A Window to the Past
by ElGal
Summary: ABANDONED. Noah Isaksen is a boy greatly underestimated. He moves into Hogwarts and discovers its secrets and intricacies, eventually joining our boy-saviour in his quest against Voldemort. Full summary inside. Slash. Harry/OMC. M for eventual sexual content.
1. Author's Note

**Summary:**** Noah Isaksen is a boy greatly underestimated. Having had his magic unblocked after years of non-use, he moves into Hogwarts and discovers its secrets and intricacies. He eventually joins our boy-saviour in his quest against Voldemort, sympathising with the hero and his connection to the Dark Lord. But does Noah himself have a bond with the Megalomaniac that no one is aware of? Join Noah in his life in the Wizarding world as he discovers that sometimes, things can be exactly what they seem.**

**A/N**: _**PLEASE**_** READ THIS BEFORE CONTINUING!**

**This might be quite long, but it should tell you everything that you would want to know about this fic before reading it. After this all my Author's notes will be short, I promise! Firstly, about the title, it's the name of a song from the Harry Potter sound track for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I recommend you buy/download it and listen to it on loop while you read this, as that's what I'm doing while writing it.**

**Okay, so, warnings next;**

**There's a slight timeline warp (mainly due to my own maths errors, but also for plot reasons), so Charlie is a year older than he really should be and some events that happen, happen earlier/later than they do in the books/movies/games whichever you know Harry Potter from. **

**There will also probably be character death. I'm not certain yet, but I figured that if there's a war going on then there will be death. I'll warn you now, no main characters will die (ie. Not Harry and not my OC). **

**It's a slight AU, mainly because of the timeline and plot changes I've made. I've basically just made my OC an extra character that appears in all the main events and helps Harry and co. along the way. The Final Battle (or something similar) **_**will**_** happen, but perhaps not in the way or place in time that it does in the books. **

**As it says in my character pairing, this story contains an OC. This is a slash fic, aka, Harry/OMC. There will be boy love. Later on, (**_**much**_** later on) there will probably be a lemon or two, or at least a few limes. **

**It's an EWE. It ignores the epilogue (or at least the bit for Harry). **

**Incest. Between Weasley's. Sorry if that's not your thing, but it's in there purely for my own perverted imagination. Unless specifically asked for by readers, there won't be any lemon, lime or other citrus fruits between the two Weasley boys, but there will be kissing; I can't turn up an opportunity for a boy on boy kiss, whether it's between brothers or not.**

**Characters **_**may**_** be a bit OOC, but I promise you I'm not doing that on purpose.**

**Mentions of mild child abuse. I know I shouldn't label it as "mild" as child abuse is child abuse no matter the severity, but just to say that I **_**am**_** trying to stick to the general plot, so no, Harry hasn't been raped and he isn't going to be a quivering mess of submissive if someone gets angry at him. He's going to be malnourished and maybe beaten a few times, used as a slave and ignored, possibly called a freak, the stuff that happened to him in the original story, not sexually exploited and beaten within an inch of his life.**

**There will be NO Dumbledore or Weasley bashing. Most of the Harry/OMC fics I've read (very few as there are hardly any completed ones out there, for which I am sad and is one of the main reasons as to why I am writing one now) usually has Dumbledore turn into a horrible old coot. If that is how you view him, then this fic may not be for you. I love Dumbledore and see him as a caring grandfather figure, so I won't be bashing him. He might die, I'm not sure yet, but characters in the books who liked Dumbledore shall like Dumbledore, those that hated him, shall hate him; there won't be any sudden change of alliances. As for Ginny, I do find her a bit annoying, but I think that's because of fan fiction to be honest. When I read the books I liked her, but when I started to want Harry to end up with some dashing Prince instead, I started to dislike her, mainly because a lot of author's bash the fuck out of her. So I'm going to try to convey how I felt about her at the start, in this story.**

**I guess you could say that this is a creature fic, to some extent, but the "creature" isn't a fully magical animal or anything like a Veela or Vampire or Werewolf etc, but is slightly creature-ish. Still, I wouldn't take this particular warning to heart.**

**Okay, I think that's the warnings over and done with in terms of plot and storyline. Now for the rest;**

**I've just started year 12 (sixth year in HP world), so I'm doing my AS-levels which require a lot of work and energy. This means that I won't be able to write much, if at all, during term time. So I can't say that there will be regular updates. With my first fic, I uploaded the entire thing within a week because a) it was during the summer holidays and b) I had written almost all of it before I started to publish it. This fic is going to be incredibly longitudinal, so it's going to stretch over a long period of time anyway. Put into the equation that I'm going back to school in a week's time and have holiday homework, I probably won't be updating more than one or two chapters a month or maybe every few months. So far I've written the first handful of chapters, but after them the updates will be very slow. I don't even know if I will ever finish this. I want to, and I have it all planned out, but things happen in life and I don't want to make any promises. On a side note, my chapters are short in comparison to other longitudinal fics you might read. Some of theirs reach 10,000 words a chapter. Mine reach around 3,000 a chapter. If you get one with 5,000+ then you're lucky. I'm just saying this because my updates will be slow and there won't be a lot to read when I **_**do**_** update. Not the best way to rope in the readers, I know, but I want to be fair and give you all a proper warning so you're not disappointed later.**

**Also, the story starts back in the past, a few years before Harry goes to Hogwarts. This means that any slash between Harry and my OC won't happen for chapters and chapters and chapters, so if you're looking for something like a PWP, then click the back button now.**

**The main reason why I started the timeline so early is because I think that after the first few books of HP, the story gets increasingly dark and I want to convey how Hogwarts was before Voldemort kept reappearing every year, how it was when it was just a **_**school**_** and everything was amazing and magical without the castle being forgotten and becoming just a backdrop for a war. I also need the background for my OC and I thought it would be a nice idea to talk about what happened at Hogwarts before Harry got there. As a reader/viewer/gamer you never really see what happens at Hogwarts before Harry arrives because you're following **_**his**_** storyline. I don't know if any other author has done this for a fic, and if they have then I'm not trying to steal their idea, but I wanted to see what it was like before the main hero got there, before everyone started staring at him in the limelight, like it would be at a normal school without the famous Saviour studying there as well. I wanted to see what it would be like when it was just the teachers and the students and the elves and the secret passages, like it would be at a **_**normal**_** magical high school. So this is why I'm writing this fic, along with the fact that I think there should be more Harry/OMC fics out there, I want to see Hogwarts when she was still in her prime.**

**Equally, I haven't dallied too long in the two years before Harry gets there, as I don't want it to be boring, and I was running out of ideas. The beginning is quite fast moving, skipping months here there and everywhere, and will hopefully settle down once Harry arrives as this **_**is**_** a romance story between my OC and him, so the main story begins once he's in the plot.**

**In short I guess you could sort of say that I'm rewriting the series, just with my character in there as well, and I'm only really focusing on the main highlights of each book.**

**With all that being said, here's the first chapter, please enjoy!**

**ElGal**

**P.S. I've tried to keep Hagrid's accent in this. I'm not sure where he's from, but in my fic he ends up sounding a bit Bristolian. Sorry =S**

**P.P.S All my work is un-betaed, so I'm sorry for any mistakes you find. I do read through my work constantly to try and improve it, but I'm only human.**


	2. In The Past I

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling (apart from my OC's which are mine, mitt's off!), various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N****: Here is the first chapter! I hope you all read the long Author's note before this because I won't be repeating a word of what's written there from now on. So all I have to say for now is enjoy!**

**Oh and if anyone is Norwegian out there, I used Google Translate for the Norwegian here, so please please please drop me a message or review if something is wrong in the translations. I literally know **_**no**_** Norwegian, so I can't tell.**

**Chapter 1**

It was a stormy evening that greeted Little Whinging in the middle of the summer holidays in the year of 1989. The clouds were rolling over the non-descript rows of identical houses, the only variations being the types of plants in the front yards. The wind was shaking the trees in the streets to their very core, bending them over at the base of their branches, much to the horror of the owners of the surrounding houses; God forbid that a single one of the trees be misshapen, for that would make them _different_ from the others. Possibly to the extent that they would have to get the Council involved, and then that meant that there would be a loud and disrupting presence outside their house as the tree was cut down. Then there would the significant difference in size of that one tree in comparison to the trees further down the road which would take years to remedy. No, it simply would not do for this storm to proceed further. The slightly thickheaded began to formulate a plan to drive the storm away, as if it were a living thing that could be reasoned with. Even the bravest of these thickheaded cowered when the thunder growled and roared at them whilst the rain was thrown down from the heavens. Promptly, the plans were abandoned, and the residents drew their curtains on the night and huddled in the centre-most room in their houses, preparing for hurricane-force winds.

As the green leaves were torn from the bending trees and pasted across windows of cars and buildings alike, a personal vendetta was being fulfilled over the roof of Number 9 Picket Lane. Much like the other houses in Picket Lane, Number 9 was surrounded in a white fence; save for the driveway, the door was an off-white shade, made less prominent by the garish red brick of which the walls were comprised. Said walls were dulled and darkened by the rain, perhaps the only good that a non-inhabitant might comment the storm was for. Despite its now remotely less hideous exterior, those living in Number 9 were far from glad for this storm. The mother and father occupied themselves in any way they knew how, ranging from pacing through the house, cursing the weather, trying to create some signal for the Telly or the phone and flicking their wands continually, for the parents of Number 9 Picket Lane were not normal.

No, they knew _magic_.

It had always fascinated their son, whom had never been able to produce his own, much to his parents' annoyance and confusion. Said son lay asleep in bed, for, unlike other boys in Picket Lane and its parallel equivalent, Privet Drive, this boy was a good child, "angelic" according to his Kindergarten teacher of five years ago, and was not staring out his window in awe at the lightning. He had gone to bed long ago, exhausted beyond measure for reasons unknown, and had fallen asleep as the first drop of rain fell and wetted a particular spot on the pavement outside his house.

The Isaksen's had moved regularly during their son's 8 years of life. Originally from Svalbard, in a tiny magical settling overlooking Magdalenefjorden, they had then moved to mainland Norway, then Bulgaria, Romania, Denmark, and finally England, Surrey. Mr. and Mrs. Isaksen had vowed to make this final move just that. Final. The reason they had moved over to the mainland all those years ago was because they had been expecting for their son to start showing signs of accidental magic, and they wanted to be closer to where Durmstrang was situated. When it became clear that he wasn't going to be performing any magic anytime soon, they moved close to a specialist in Bulgaria, who was, effectively, a magical Paediatrician. He had said that he couldn't see any problem with their son, and had recommended a course that an old colleague of his ran in Romania, which taught magically-slow children how to tap into their magic supply. So the family had packed up and moved again to Romania, searched for weeks for the doctor only to find he had moved to Denmark. After 6 months of following the new doctor's course, he proclaimed that there must be some repressant on his magic that didn't show up in any studies or check-ups. Dejected, the family had attempted to go back to Svalbard, only to find that the few bloody British Death Eaters that were still fighting since the fall of their Lord, had attacked the magical settlement that they had used to live in, and the area on the mainland where their second home had been.

Scared and seeking a hideout, they fled to England and hid themselves, right under the Death Eaters noses, in an area where they assumed no one would ever look due to its Muggle population and disgusting obsession with 'normal'. But since they had arrived only two months previously, it seemed that rain, and only rain, would follow them, and their son was suffering because of it. They had named him because of rain, as they had found its presence soothing, and its idea romantic, but now their son came out in a fever every time a storm brewed. Most storms he slept through, but during some he would wake with a high fever and be violently sick all over his room. It seemed, however, that he had figured this out and, being the angelic boy he was, had decided to lock his door every time he saw storm clouds building up. They had tried unlocking it magically, but it seemed that every time they did that, he would awaken and get upset at them for invading in on him, and then he wouldn't sleep and would get the fever and be ill. So it was a lose-lose situation for Mr. and Mrs. Isaksen. They could leave him be, but not know if he was being sick or not, or try and sit with him, but cause him to be ill instead. Seeing as the odds were lower if they left him be, that was what they now did, but that didn't make it easier for them.

And so they paced, cursed and fiddled, praying to all the gods that they knew that this storm would pass without hitch from their little boy. They could hear the wet slap every time a leaf was thrown against the windows in the wind. They could hear the groaning of the trees. They could hear the crashing as bins and bikes were overturned and buffeted about. This was, by far, the worst storm that had hit England since they had arrived. They heard coughing and hacking from upstairs and exchanged worried glances before running for the stairs.

The eight-year-old boy was leaning over a bucket that he kept beside his bed in case of emergencies like this. He didn't understand why he threw up whenever it rained, but he knew why he woke up some times and not others. He would have a dream about a big flood and a big boat and a massive storm. Then he would go to the front of the big boat and look down into the waters below. And underneath him he would see so many creatures dying under the surface. Creatures that he couldn't save. Some he didn't even have on his boat. There were half-human, half-horse creatures, there were really massive spiders, there were dogs with three heads, there were even…even _dragons_. He would see them and feel guilt and he would want to save them all, so he would jump over the front of the boat and he would swim down to the magical creatures, because when he was underwater he could suddenly tell they were magical like his mama and papa, and he would hug them to him and cry for their lives and wish he could save them as well. Then he would start running out of air and he would have to let go of them and leave them to drown and he hated himself for it. The moment his head broke the surface of the water he would wake up and be sick.

Sometimes, when the sound of the rain was particularly loud, he would have that dream. Other times, he wouldn't, and it would all be okay and he would wake up the next morning, only knowing that a storm had happened because he remembered locking his door to keep his mama and papa out so they wouldn't frown and cry. If being in his room made them frown and cry then he vowed he would shut them out, even if he didn't like being alone during the storms.

He coughed violently as more of his stomach's contents came up out of his mouth again. Suddenly there was a bang and his mama and papa had rushed into the room with their magic sticks out and a shout of his name. Immediately, his papa siphoned off the sick from his clothes using his wand and his mama wrapped her arms around him and stroked his head, soothing him and whispering to him.

"Hysj nå; vil alt være i orden snart, min lille Fredsfyrsten." [_Hush now; everything will be alright soon, my little Prince of Peace.] _She murmured to him, holding his shaggy hair away from his face as he emptied his guts into a bucket she hadn't realised he'd been keeping. It upset her to know that her son had been throwing up in secret from her and that she hadn't actually rushed in to help every time he woke up retching. He was only eight! He was too young for this. She had heard of a great man who was the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Maybe she could somehow contact him and ask him for help. If he couldn't help them, then no one in the world could. Yes. Yes, she would owl him the very next morning and ask him to come and see her boy, ask him to help him, to help her little Noah.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

The next day, Albus Dumbledore sat in his office in Hogwarts, reading through forms and bills and quotas, lists of prospect students for the next year, letters of complaint and letters of beseeching nature, letters of praise and letters of bribery and blackmail. He sighed wearily. It seemed that parents would go to every extent to try to ensure that their child got a proper magical education. It seemed that all parents of wizard and witches had forgotten that Hogwarts herself was magical, and stretched to accommodate every capacity of student. There was no _need_ for any parents or guardians to write, requesting entrance for their child. As he silently cast his spells to sort out his post, he noticed that, while all other letters were neatly zooming into piles with respective titles, one letter seemed to be hovering and not quite moving in any particular direction. Curiosity peaked; Dumbledore reached forwards and snatched the letter from its near stationary position in the air. It was addressed to,

_Mr. Dumbledore_

_Headmaster of Hogwarts_

Dumbledore chortled when he saw this. Very few left off all his titles and ornaments he had acquired over the years, and _very_ few left off _"School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_". It was a miracle that the castle had even allowed this letter in, in the first place! He turned over crisp Muggle envelope and raised one eyebrow as he saw the return address, from _Little Whinging_. And a road so close to Harry Potter's as well. Immediately impatient to see the insides, Dumbledore hastily opened the envelope like a young boy would open a birthday present. It read;

"_To Mr. Dumbledore,_

_Forgive the informality of this letter, I am afraid we are not familiar with the form of addressing here and also do not know your full name. But we still pray that you will overlook this initial rudeness and will continue to read. My husband and I have a little boy, eight years old, called Noah. He has not yet performed a single spell of magic, though we are both of Pureblood heritage and have seen several Paediatricians who assure us that he holds magic, yet it is being blocked for unknown reasons. We hear you are a great, great wizard, and beseech you to come to our new house in Picket Lane as soon as suits you to look at our little Noah. He is violently ill during storms that he is awake for, and has told us recently that this is due to a certain dream he has most of the time when it rains. He refused to tell us the contents of the dream as he refuses to worry us. He even locks his door to keep us out, and whenever we unlock it, he will wake up and start being ill. Please, we beg you, look at our son, it hurts to not be able to help your own child and we know of no one other than yourself to whom we can turn to._

_Our address is on the back of the envelope._

_Please come to see Noah. We have no other resort._

_Elisa and Mikkel Isaksen."_

Dumbledore felt a tingling in his magic that always assured a promise of adventure and worthy benefits. He immediately stood and moved to his grand fireplace. Unceremoniously grabbing a handful of Floo powder and quickly throwing it into the flames before too much slipped through his fingers onto his carpet, he stepped into the green fire and called out in his imperious voice,

"Number Nine, Picket Lane, Surrey!"

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Elisa Isaksen's head whipped up at the flaring of the fireplace in their homey Sitting room. She had been sitting with Noah, having him read to her from an English book, so he could get used to the language quicker. He already understood a lot of English and could read it very fluently, but speaking it was slightly different as he got used to the different sounds that were so strange to him having spoken Norwegian his whole life. Noah also stopped reading as the fire turned green. He watched with rapt awe as a person appeared in his fireplace; a tall, old man with a long beard and hair, twinkly blue eyes and half-moon spectacles. Instantly, his guard was up and he narrowed his eyes at the smiley old man.

"Albus Dumbledore." He said pleasantly, as he brushed himself off and stepped out onto the carpet after shaking the ash off his shoes. "I presume you are Mrs. Isaksen?" He asked as he strode towards Noah's mama, and shook her hand. Then he turned to Noah. "And you must be Noah, young man." Noah liked him now. He had called him _young man_. That, he knew, was older than 'boy'. He puffed his chest out impressively and practised speaking English to someone other than his mama or papa for the first time.

"Yes." He said proudly, "My name is Noah." His _a_'s sounded odd to his ears, but at his mama's beam he knew he had done well.

"Godt gjort, min lille Fredsfyrsten." [_Well done, my little Prince of Peace_] His mama whispered to him, smiling at him. She turned to the man called Dumbledore. "Thank you so much for coming." She said in perfect English that Noah vowed to learn, picked up his hand and kissed the back of it as a sign of ancient magical respect. "I never assumed you would arrive so quickly, if at all." She said, tearing up a bit, "We have had hope given and then taken from us so many times already, I feared this time would be the same." Dumbledore's eyes softened and Noah could tell that he liked his mama. Noah was good at that; seeing how other people felt by the look in their eyes. It was how he knew how worried his mama and papa got whenever there was a storm, and how disappointed he knew they were whenever he couldn't do magic like they could. Not that he hadn't tried. He had tried really hard to make things move and explode and change colour like he had heard a doctor said was normal for magical children of his age a few years ago. But nothing ever worked.

"I assure you, Mrs. Isaksen, I wish to help Noah to the best of my abilities." He turned to look at Noah. "I believe, young man, that you have a dream to tell me about." Noah's eyes widened and he looked at his mama and then back to the old man.

"No." He said simply. He wouldn't tell his mama his dream. It would only make her fret. His mama looked a bit hurt for a second but then she nodded and left the room. He heard her go upstairs and saw the old man flick his wand around the room and suddenly all the background noise that was there before, disappeared.

"No one will hear anything from this room now." Dumbledore said as he took a seat in one of their comfy sofas. He looked very out of place amongst the floral furnishings. "I hope you don't mind, getting old and all, it takes its toll on one's body." He explained with a twinkle of merriment in his eyes. It made Noah want to impress him and act mature, seeing as Dumbledore was treating him so much like an adult.

"Not at all, sir." He said slowly, trying the foreign words. He knew the words in his head, but he knew he had to pronounce them slowly so people would understand him. He perched on the sofa next to Dumbledore, his legs swinging off the edge.

"Now Noah, your dream?" He prompted and Noah gave the man one last unsure look before nodding and deciding to trust him.

"I have a dream, when the rain is too loud. I am on a boat, a very large boat, and there is lots of water, like an ocean but more!" Noah flung his arms out to express the enormity, not knowing the word. "Uhh, lots of water and there is more than the land and there are animals floating under the water, uhm, I am sorry, I do not know the word."

"A flood? En flom?" Dumbledore asked. Noah stared at him with wide eyes.

"Du snakker norse!" [_You speak Norwegian!_] Noah exclaimed excitedly. Dumbledore chuckled.

"Only a small amount, yes." He replied, smiling. Noah nodded and got back to his story.

"I am on a big boat on a flood – "

"_During_ a flood." Dumbledore corrected. Noah frowned and nodded, engraving that into his head.

"I am on a big boat, _during_ a flood, and there are lots of animals under the water. I have many on my big boat, but there are others, there are ones that are human and horse at the same time, and others that look like dogs but have three heads and there are even…" Noah trailed off and looked over his shoulders, tilting his head to make sure that it was still silent, "_drager."_ [_dragons._] He said conspiringly. Dumbledore's eyebrows rose. "I feel sad that there are none on my boat, so I jump into the water and give them a hug. My mama and papa do that when they want to make me feel better, so I hug them. But then I can't breathe, so I have to swim back up. But when my head gets out of the water, I wake up and I am sick." Noah was frowning again as he recalled the finer details of his dream.

"It seems that there is more to this than a simple magical core block." Dumbledore murmured to himself. He waved his wand around the room again and sent off a silvery shape that was so quick that Noah couldn't catch it. Almost immediately his mama reappeared in the room. She ran over to Noah and smothered him to her breast.

"_Mamma!_" [Mama!] Noah cried out in embarrassment. He was a _young man_ now, and _young men_ were not smothered to their mama's bosom!

"What is wrong with my little boy?" She asked worried. Dumbledore frowned now, which worried Noah because he could see the sincere befuddlement in the old man's blue eyes.

"Have you ever heard, Mrs. Isaksen, of Magical Reincarnation?"

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

**Chapter End**

**A/N**:** So that's the first chapter done. I'll hopefully put the second up soon, when I next have the chance, as I've already written the first 3 or 4 and just need to check them before uploading. I hope this was enough to grab your interest!**


	3. In The Past II

****Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling (apart from my OC's which are mine, mitt's off!), various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.****

**A/N:**** Okay, so I _honestly_ thought I'd uploaded this a month ago, but apparently I haven't. So here is the second chapter, and I'll upload the third right away afterwards as I had it all prepared to upload when I realised this hadn't been posted yet =/ Sorry for the long wait, made even longer by my mess-up. As my author's note in Chapter 3 will say; I haven't been in tune with my muse as of late.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

It had been an hour since Dumbledore had explained to Noah and his mama about Magical Reincarnation and, frankly, Noah was _still_ confused.

"So I am not me?" He had asked the old man, worriedly. If he wasn't him then mama and papa might not love him anymore, and, although he was a young man now, he still wanted his mama and papa to love him.

"No, no, you are most definitely you. It is just that you have lived before, thousands of years ago, and now you are living again. It is rare that the same spirit is born more than once, but it can happen in some circumstances. When a sufficient amount of guilt is built up in a lifetime and a person dies feeling they have not fulfilled their life aim…rarely, but sometimes, a spirit is reborn. It is usually after all people connected with the original spirit have died, leaving no one any the wiser. I therefore, assume that 9 years ago the last connected to Noah of the Ark and the Great Flood died."

"Nine? But sir, I am only eight." Noah had corrected. At this his mama had flushed slightly, but still bent down and looked at Noah and gently told him,

"Mama's need time for a baby to grow in their tummy's before the baby is born, so it would have been nearly nine whole years to now since you started growing in my tummy." Noah had nodded in understanding and gone back to the matter at hand with no further questions about that.

"So I am me, but I was also me, a long time ago?" Dumbledore had beamed and nodded at him. "But why am I me again, now?" At that, the old man had put a thoughtful hand to his beard.

"It is usually to fulfil the task you failed before. But as I have heard all the great prophecies for the next century or two, I know that is not the case. I am afraid, young man, that I am not quite sure as to why you are here again." He shook his head sadly, "Though it is proving quite a problem that this is blocking your magic. I can only assume that the previous Noah was not magical by nature, or at least not so greatly as you are, perhaps a Squib, and so your spirit is fighting with the power inherited from, your parents." Noah had looked at him with wide eyes.

"So how do we fix me?" It had never even occurred to him to think that Dumbledore might not know the answer. He had so much hope after hearing something that no one else had managed to tell him, that he just automatically took it as a given that the man would know what to do next. Dumbledore smiled again and looked between Noah and his mama. When he caught his mama's eyes, the smile left his face.

"There is a solution." He said, but held up his hand to show that there was a negative side to it as well. "But it requires me to take you to Hogwarts to create it." Mama looked at him confused as to why that was a bad thing. She opened her mouth to ask but Dumbledore gently added. "I need to take him to Hogwarts _now_. If we wait until he is eleven, his magic may be blocked for all his life and he would be ill during the rain for the rest of his days." Hearing that he may be ill forever made Noah want to plead with his mama to let him go, but he knew that he couldn't ask something that great of his mama who had cared so much for him. It was one thing to ask her to let him go when he was eleven, but when he was eight? Because he was as _mature_ as he was, he knew that there was a distinct difference between being eleven and eight. He knew that you were a _real_ young man at eleven. But he was only eight.

"Det er greit, mor. Jeg vil ikke gå. Jeg vil ikke bekymre du deg." [_It is okay, mother. I will not go. I will not worry you._] Noah said, holding his mama's hand. His mama took a deep shuddering breath, looked at Noah in the eyes and felt her own tear up.

"Nei. Du vil. Du må." [_No. You will. You must._] She gave her one and only son a last lingering look, then turned to Dumbledore. "He will go." She said in a voice stronger than she felt. "I will pack his things. Please send a Patronus to Mikkel, I cannot conjure one at the moment." Dumbledore nodded in understanding and sent out that lightning-quick silver shape. It flew through the glass of the window and flapped away. Mere minutes later, the fire flared up and Noah's papa stepped out.

"Pappa!" [_Papa!_] Noah cried and barrelled himself over to his papa.

"Noah? What's wrong?" His papa asked in English. He rarely spoke in Norwegian unless it was something important. He was trying to only speak to Noah in English so he would learn the language faster, whereas Noah's mama would slip a lot and go back to Norwegian. He turned to the only other person in the room and looked at him with hostile eyes. "My apologies, I do not believe we have met." He said stiffly, pointedly not sticking out his hand to shake.

"No, I believe we haven't." Dumbledore mused, eyes sparkling with a dulled mirth. "Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Two hours later, Mikkel Isaksen had been filled in on what he had missed and Elisa had finished packing all of Noah's items. They had said their teary goodbyes. Mikkel had grasped onto his son for much longer than usual, initiating rare physical contact with the boy.

"Du bli bra. Du er sterk, Noah. Du er modig. Husk, sønn, husk at jeg elsker deg." [_You be good. You are strong, Noah. You are brave. Remember, son, remember that I love you_.] He had whispered before letting his son go for the last time in who knows how long. His mama had merely grabbed onto him and wept for a long time, stuttering out words, before his papa had gently prised her off her baby.

"Farvel, mamma, pappa." [_Goodbye, mama, papa._] Noah then turned around and climbed nervously into the green flames he had conjured up with Floo powder.

"Just call for Hogwarts, Noah." Dumbledore explained to him. Noah nodded, shakily, held his shrunken luggage securely, glanced one last time at his mama kneeling on the floor with his papa on one knee holding her to his chest, and called out in a clear voice,

"Hogwarts!"

He was spun mercilessly and eventually he fell out onto a warm red carpet, feeling rather nauseous. He rolled out of the way and merely a moment later, Dumbledore spun into view. When Noah had gained his bearings he felt simultaneously scared and excited at the same time. He could sense the magic in the air and he could feel the patch of floor beneath him warm up, as if greeting him. But equally, his mama and papa weren't here. And that made him feel more hollow than when he woke up in the worst of storms. He sat on the heated floor glumly, not really wanting to move. He missed his parents. Dumbledore squatted down next to him and placed a consoling hand on Noah's head.

"Chin up, my boy, you're in the greatest and safest place in the whole of the United Kingdom now. You're going to be learning magic with a wand, far sooner than any classmates you may have." Noah merely nodded his head with no real fervour beneath it. "Your parents can visit you at Christmas, and they can stay here next summer as well." Dumbledore added and smiled when that gained a more enthusiastic reaction from the boy. Noah looked up with wide eyes and smiled weakly. Then he frowned.

"If they can stay next summer, why not this one?" He asked. It was summer _now_. Why did he have to leave them?

"There will be changes in the castle this summer." Dumbledore answered gravely. "We are preparing for a special student in a few years time. You shall join Hogwarts as a student eventually, so the castle can work with you here as you shall be here for the next ten years or so. But with your parents here as well…when they are only temporary visitors, it is not wise to have them here while the castle prepares herself. She may not take kindly to such an intrusion." Noah just nodded with still-wide eyes. He wanted his parents to be safe a lot more than he missed them. "Now then, let's find you a room, shall we?" Dumbledore said, standing up and cracking his back. Noah, spirits considerably higher, clambered to his feet, picked up his scattered luggage, and followed the old man out onto a moving staircase. He stared in awe at the moving portraits on the walls, which all bowed and curtseyed to him politely. At first he bowed back, but when he couldn't walk more than a pace at a time without bowing, he took to nodding his head and murmuring greetings. Dumbledore watched his antics with an amused glint in his eyes. They eventually reached a set of teacher's quarters that were kept spare for emergencies, situated near the bottom of Gryffindor Tower. Dumbledore opened the door and was pleased to see that the castle had modified the rooms beyond it to better suit the needs of an eight-year-old boy. The bed was slightly lower to the ground, though just as big, the windows were slightly lower on the wall as well, the sofa looked that tiniest bit fluffier, and the fireplace had a safety grill stuck there with a sticking charm.

Noah narrowed his eyes as they first lay on the fireplace. The black grate was glittering at him. He had noticed the sparkles in Dumbledore's office, but there was so much sunlight and golden objects in there, that he had thought nothing of it. He had seen some glittering at home as well, but not a lot. Just on a few shiny objects, so it hadn't seemed weird. But now there was a dull, black, metal grate and it was twinkling like Dumbledore's eyes.

"Sir…?" He started unsurely. Was this normal? Or did this make him different and odd? He didn't want to be an outcast here. He had been teased in his Kindergarten for his hair and eyes, he didn't want to be strange here too, not when everything here was particularly strange by nature.

"Yes, Noah?" Dumbledore prompted when he saw the boy wasn't going to respond.

"The fire grate…it's sparkling at me. Should it be?" Dumbledore looked at the boy in shock. He quickly scoured the room with his eyes and wondered if the boy could see –

"Noah, is the bed sparkling at you as well? What about the window? The sofa?" Dumbledore asked, uncharacteristically enthusiastic. Noah squinted at the bed, windows and sofa. It was hard to see on the windows because of the sunlight, but there was a distinct shimmery haze in front of them and the bed. The sofa, however, just had two distinct points in each half that glowed like a star in the sky. Slowly and hesitantly, he nodded. Dumbledore felt floored.

"Sir? Is that…is that normal?" Noah asked, worried. Why wouldn't Dumbledore answer him?

"Normal? No, I wouldn't say so. But talented? Yes and powerful? By Gods yes! Noah, what you are seeing is _magic_. Magic, in its purest form! The bed, the windows; they have been lowered for you, the sofa has been cushioned and the fire grate has been stuck. My dear boy, you are going to be a very powerful wizard one day. Should you and Harry Potter ever be on the same side, I would be worried for your foes."

"Harry Potter?" Noah asked, he had heard of him! His mama and papa had told him of the English boy who had defeated a really bad man when he was just a baby. And Dumbledore _knew_ him! "You know Harry Potter?" Dumbledore chuckled.

"Young man, I delivered Harry Potter to the house he lives in myself. Well, Hagrid did the delivering, I saw him off though. Saw to it that he would be well cared for. He is the student we are preparing for. He is going to let off a large excess of magic when he arrives, and we need to prepare for the castle to absorb it. Mind you, we may have to do the same for you, once we have unlocked your magic." Dumbledore rambled, slowly steering Noah out of his rooms. "The house elves will unpack your belongings. I think you ought to meet Hagrid."

"Elves?" Noah asked. "There are elves here?" He thought of the beautiful human-like creatures from his childhood story books.

"Not the sort you are imagining, I can assure you." Dumbledore chortled. "Yes, I think we should get you to see Hagrid immediately. He knows the most about magical creatures. And their history. It is the only way I can see of relieving you of your guilt you carry. Yes, Hagrid shall help." Dumbledore explained as they left through some massive doors and walked in the direction of a hut off in the distance.

Noah was a little bit frightened and yet excited again. Was Hagrid some wise man who could tell him all the answers to his second past? He jogged slightly to keep up with Dumbledore's long strides. He wanted to meet this Hagrid person.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Rubius Hagrid hummed as he made his way around his tiny kitchen. He put his kettle on to boil over the fire and wiped his pink oven mitts on his pink, floral apron which was stained with flour from baking his rock cakes. He was just about to take the kettle off the boil when he heard a sharp rap on the door. Still humming as he moved over to answer it, Hagrid dodged the lid of the kettle as it flew off the top from the violent shaking and whistling. He wrenched open the door to find Albus Dumbledore and a tiny, tiny boy with purple eyes and shaggy brown hair that faded to blue at the tips, standing at his side, his eyes wide with disappointment as he took in Hagrid's appearance. Blushing, Hagrid whipped off the oven mitts and apron, and the boy looked mildly less let down.

"'Ello there, Professor Dumbledore. 'ho's this you've brough' me?" Hagrid asked, and the boy smiled shyly up at Hagrid, seemingly amused by his accent.

"This, my dear Hagrid, is Noah Isaksen. He is an MR. I was hoping that you could tell him about the history and origin of magical creatures, maybe show him a few. Be sure to mention the Flood." Dumbledore looked meaningfully at Hagrid and the giant made the connection with Noah's name. He nodded, quickly. "Noah, this is Hagrid. I'm afraid I must leave you now, I have a lot of paperwork to get through, but Hagrid will make sure you feel comfortable." Noah nodded at Dumbledore.

"Takk." [_Thank you_] He said to Dumbledore and the man nodded at him before leaving and walking back up to the castle. Noah looked back up at the massive man in front of him.

"Yer alrigh', kid. In yer come. I jus' made some tea." The man – Hagrid, gestured for Noah to come in, so he did, and perched nervously on the edge of the big squishy sofa he found at Hagrid's prompt. "So," Hagrid began as he brought over a tray with mismatched china on it, a pot of tea, some sugar and milk. "Yer Noah from the old days, ain't yer?" Noah nodded. He'd done a lot of that today. "Righ', righ'. Well, I guess I best star' with the Flood, eh?"

"I keep having dreams when it rains, that lots of magical creatures are dying under the water. I cannot save them. I always wake up when I go back to the surface for air." Noah recited miserably. Then he remembered that Dumbledore had mentioned elves. _And_ he had asked Hagrid to _"show him a few"_. "Are there still magical creature's around?" He asked, eagerly. "Were they all not killed?" Hagrid laughed a big, booming laugh and replied,

"Far from it! I still have problems with the flobber worms. Won' stop breeding, yer see." Noah sat there in rapt attention as Hagrid told him wonderful stories of sea creatures saving the magical creatures, casting spells and charms on them. The whole of the magical animal population had lived, as had the human population, magical and not, and many of the non-magical animals, too. Noah and his Ark had been largely unnecessary, save the fact that it saved a few species such as ostriches and chickens and other flightless birds that got spooked easily. Sadly, the dodo's had been a lost cause. Noah, though sad to hear that a few species had died out, couldn't believe his ears as he was told that all these others hadn't.

"Please, show me. I need to see it to believe that it's true." Noah asked. Hagrid nodded his head sagely and stood up.

"Come on, then. It's not too late. I'll take yer out ter the forest, see if I can ge' Firenze ou' for yer." Hagrid walked out the door of his hut and towards the large forest nearby. 5 minutes later, Hagrid was calling for a 'Firenze' and Noah was subjected to the most guilt-lifting experience of his little life. One of the half-human, half-horse creatures burst out of the trees a few metres away. It was true. They had survived. His nightmares had been lies. He hadn't known what had happened to them after that because they had hidden themselves. But they had all survived. He hadn't left anyone out, save a few birds and overgrown lizards. Noah sank to his knees and wept in joy as he heard Hagrid explain quietly in the background that he was 'the MR of Noah, from the Great Flood.' The 'Firenze' nodded, trotted over and patted Noah on the head. Noah looked up with watery, lilac eyes and hiccoughed.

"You have carried a great weight on your shoulders, child. Let it be known that we Centaurs and all others survived. Let your guilt be lifted. You can live as is normal once again." Noah simply nodded before hanging his head, sniffling once more and then collapsing onto his side into a deep, deep slumber, whistling slightly through his half-blocked nose.

"Cute, i'n't he?" Hagrid commented as he picked the young boy up in his arms. Firenze nodded in agreement before craning his neck to the sky to see the stars as they began to shine in the quickly darkening sky.

"It will be getting dangerous soon, Hagrid." Firenze commented. Hagrid looked up, too.

"Yeh, best ter get 'im back ter the castle." Hagrid agreed. A hand on his arm stopped him and he met the eyes of the centaur.

"His last acquaintance died nine years ago, Hagrid. Make no mistake, that that was no coincidence. It will be getting dangerous soon." With that, Firenze cantered away and Hagrid hurried back up to the castle to speak with Dumbledore.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

**Chapter End.**


	4. In The Past III

****Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling (apart from my OC's which are mine, mitt's off!), various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.****

**A/N:**** Hello all! So I thought it had been a month since I'd last posted with Chapter 2, but apparently not as I completely forgot to put up Chapter 2 in the first place =/ My excuses for the lateness is that life is incredibly hectic and I just haven't been in contact with my muse these past 30 days. I'd rather update slowly but write better than update quickly but write shit-ly.**

**Anyway, Charlie comes into this chapter and I KNOW that he's actually in his sixth year, but in this he's in his seventh. I'd like to say something mysterious like "you'll all see why soon..." but you won't really. I did this for convenience's sake as I find him a hard character to write and also because I cocked up on the maths. It works out in my head anyway, but please don't start picking me up on the error; I'm perfectly aware that it's there!**

**Right. That's me done, I'll see you all in the next chapter! (which will probably be another month away or so)**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

Noah grumbled slightly as he rolled over onto his side. His body felt achy all over. He rolled over again and cracked an eyelid. He quickly rubbed his eyes at what he saw, then looked again. He looked around him and below him and yelped. _He was floating in the air_. At his yelp he fell back down the mattress. Suddenly there was a pop and a…a…a _thing_ appeared next to his bed. A tiny little bald thing with _massive_ eyes and a long nose and pointy teeth and when it opened its mouth it _squeaked_.

"Is Master Noah being alright? Gibsy has been hearing a yelp and is being worried for Master Noah." Noah stared at the thing in a fascinated sort of horror.

"What is a Gibsy?" He asked, shocked.

"I is being Gibsy, sir." The thing puffed out its chest and beat a hand against it proudly. "I is being a house elf of Hoggies." Noah just nodded his head absently. He had no clue what '_Hoggies'_ was and he had a feeling that talking to these elves too much was going to be detrimental to his English until he had more solidly learnt the language.

"Gibsy, do you know where I can find Dumbledore?" Noah asked, not really knowing what to do with himself or where to go. He also thought that floating in the air was something he should update the old wizard on.

"Gibsy is knowing where Dumbles office is!" The elf cried out happily. Noah smiled and sighed with relief.

"Do you think you could take me there? I really need to talk to him." The house elf nodded, its huge floppy ears flapping up and down as - he? she? - did so. It held out its hand for Noah. Hesitantly, Noah took it, then suddenly he was being squeezed into a tube _much_ too small for him and then it was over and he was face-first lying on the floor in Dumbledore's office. There was another light pop and Noah assumed Gibsy had left.

He sat up slowly, groaning and rubbing his face with his hands. Upon opening his eyes everything was suddenly sparkling at him and he groaned again and lay back down. He heard Dumbledore chuckling at him.

"Good morning, Noah!" He greeted cheerfully.

"That remains to be seen." Noah groaned, using a phrase he had heard his papa use once, before he had had his morning cup of coffee. "Can you turn the magic off in this room? It is too bright."

"Ah, forgive me Noah, I had quite forgotten about your special ability. I am afraid that the castle will not turn her magic off for anyone, even me." He paused, "In fact, I'm not even certain as to whether it is possible." He hummed in thought. "An interesting prospect though, of course."

"Um, sir?" Noah gently nudged the old man back into reality.

"Right, right. I shall ask Madame Pomfrey and see if we can't come up with some sort of device to block it out. I'm sure we can make you some spectacles that will work." Noah sighed and shielded his eyes as he sat back up. "I shall take you there immediately. But is there something else you needed?" Dumbledore asked. "I was quite content with leaving you on your own to explore the castle this morning."

"Well, sir," Noah replied, getting excited, "I woke up today and I was _floating_! Floating, sir!" Dumbledore's eyebrows rose. Well, that worked faster than he expected. Suddenly one of the glass objects on Dumbledore's desk burst. Noah stopped squealing and stared at it in shock. "Did I…did I just do that?" He asked, waving his hand in the desks direction. As he did so, other trinkets and objects floated up in the air with the motion of his hand, as if pulled by invisible strings. He looked at them with wide eyes. His gaze travelled between the objects, his arm and Dumbledore. "Sir, how do I put them down?" He asked, not wanting to move in case he dropped them all and broke them. Dumbledore quickly got out his wand and moved them back into place.

"It seems, Noah, that your magic has officially been unlocked." Dumbledore beamed at him. "Though you have gone many many years past the normal age for accidental magic, so I fear that your accidental magic may be more powerful than usual. We must get you a wand immediately. We have to teach you how to channel your magic rather than letting it just burst out like this." Noah nodded and stood, making sure he didn't move his limbs more than necessary. "Come now, we shall start with Madame Pomfrey. Then we shall get you to Ollivander's."

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

A newly bespectacled Noah and Dumbledore stepped out of the Floo network in Ollivander's wand shop. Noah looked around and experimentally slipped his new glasses down his nose and looked over the top of them. Immediately, the entire shop lit up with magic and he quickly crammed them back up his face. His thick-rimmed, square, black Rembrand eyeglasses were still slightly too big for him, but to save time and energy in the long run, the healer-lady had said she would leave them slightly too big so that he would grow into them as he got older. As he coughed in the ash of the Floo, he heard a man call out to wait for a minute.

By the time Noah had composed himself again he was faced by another old man with grey hair bending down and staring into his face. He jumped and his glasses slipped down his face a little.

"A little young isn't he, Dumbledore?" The man asked, still peering curiously into Noah's face.

"But perfectly old enough, Garrick, I assure you."

"Hm." Garrick nodded in Noah's face and then moved back. He went behind his counter and started pulling off box after box after box from the shelves behind it. He then motioned for Noah to move forwards and try waving the wands inside the boxes.

Tentatively, Noah reached into the first box and pulled out a wand as long as his forearm. It felt cold and uncomfortable in his hand and before he could even lift it up, Garrick had tutted and snatched it back. He put it back on the shelf as Noah reached for the next one. This time when he touched it, it burnt him and he yelped and dropped it.

They went through 6 wands in total before Noah spoke up. "Um, Mr. Garrick, sir?"

"Ollivander. Garrick Ollivander." Mr. Ollivander corrected him absently as he flew from shelf to shelf.

"Um, Mr. Ollivander, I understand that I am looking for a wand but why can I not just pick one and be done?" Noah asked. Suddenly, Mr. Ollivander zoomed back over to him and stared at him right up close and personal.

"The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Isaksen. The wand always chooses the wizard." Noah didn't quite understand how that could be so when wands were merely sticks of wood, but he nodded all the same and made the appropriate noises. He could see curiosity in the old man's eyes and he wondered if it was normal for someone to take this long when choosing a wand. Carrying on with his testing, Noah reached another box in the long line of cases. The wand inside was short and black, pretty simple with no intricacies. He picked it up and jumped as it flew out his hand and impaled itself into a box on the shelf in front of him. Grumbling, Noah opened the next box. The wand inside this one was respectably long, a light birchy colour and had a proper handle with tiny little carvings in it. Noah hoped he would be able to hold this one long enough to look at the carvings, he really thought it was a pretty wand. He picked it up and looked closely at the handle. It was engraved with a tiny dragon-like eel that seemed to move around the more he stared at it. Noah was looking so closely at the wand he didn't even notice when his fingers went all tingly. He _did_ notice, however, when his clothes caught on fire from the sparks shooting out from the tip.

Yelping he jumped and tried to swat out the fire, but he refused to let go of the wand.

"Calm down, Noah, the fire will not hurt you." He heard Dumbledore say, and then felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He tried to stay still, but seeing a fire eating his jumper but not _feeling_ anything was weird. Beyond weird. Eventually the blue flames died out and Mr. Ollivander made a happy celebratory noise in the back of his throat. Apparently the search had been wearing on his nerves as much as Noah's.

"Eleven inches, Alder wood with an…an unknown core?" Mr. Ollivander looked surprised. "That's a very loyal wand there that's chosen you, Mr. Isaksen, if the wood is anything to go by…but the core…I'm afraid I can't for the life of me remember what it is. " Mr. Ollivander concluded, "And here I am, making them…I made this so long ago, though…and I _am_ getting on in my years…" The old man mumbled to himself as he snapped the empty box shut and placed it under the counter, before shrugging, and happily storing away all the other wands. Noah discounted it as unimportant as it seemed so insignificant to the wandmaker. Suddenly a horrific thought struck Noah, and he clutched his new wand closer to him.

"Mr. Dumbledore, sir, I don't have any money!" He whispered, not wanting Mr. Ollivander to hear and take his new wand away. Dumbledore merely chuckled however and winked at him.

"I'm afraid that you won't be able to unlock your vault at Gringott's until you are eleven, but your parents provided me with some pocket money for you. Do not worry, Noah." He then pulled out a little pouch and handed it to Noah. "I think you'll find that the exact amount that you need is in that pouch." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled again and Noah nodded, placing the pouch on Mr. Ollivander's counter, thanking the man and then being whisked away by Dumbledore again.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Three weeks passed and there was merely one night until all the students would be arriving for school. Noah had been practising his magic and could now control it to the normal extent of an eight year old. Minnie even said that he could control it like a first or second year could and that he already knew more spells than they did. Uncle Filius and Minnie had been teaching him simple charms and transfigurations. They had been teaching him the normal first year course, along with some other useful charms that weren't necessarily taught, like household charms and glamours. It was the evening before the other students arrived, and Noah was currently running around Hogwarts' corridors, exploring.

Exploring had quickly become his most favourite pass time. There was so much to find in this massive castle. Most days, when he wasn't having tutoring with Uncle Filius or Minnie, he would just sit on the stairs and see where they took him. His favourite places so far had been up high in the Astronomy Tower and down under the Black Lake in the dungeons. He also visited Hagrid every day and saw more and more creatures that his past self had thought had died.

Having missed supper, Noah paused outside the entrance to the kitchens. It was weird, sometimes the castle seemed to _tell_ him things. He got on really well with all the portraits and ghosts and the castle would always make sure he was comfortable. He wasn't sure if that was because he was still a child and technically too young to be there, but he felt safe whenever the castle would warm the stone beneath him when he sat on the stairs, and cushion it so his bum wouldn't hurt. The portraits would whisper secrets to him and the ghosts would tell him stories of past students and their own lives. One instance when the castle had told him something was when he had been really hungry but didn't know his way to the Great Hall so he couldn't get to lunch. He had been walking around and the staircases led him to this corridor. He had wandered down it, and when he walked past the portrait of the fruit bowl he had heard a whispering that made him stop and look around. The whispering got louder whenever he looked at the portrait and so he had moved closer. A trance came over him and he had felt himself reaching up and touching the portrait tentatively. He ran his hand over it and when he reached a pear, it giggled and turned into a doorknob. He had opened the door to find house elves and food. So much _food_. After whispering his thanks to the mysterious voice, he had hopped inside to the kitchens and asked for some lunch.

He entered the kitchens this time and asked Gibsy for some supper, though at this time, it could possibly be counted as an early breakfast. The house elf bowed and ran off, coming back with plate upon plate of succulent food. Being sufficiently stuffed, Noah made his way back to his room and set a modified _tempus_ charm that would go off as an alarm. Uncle Filius had taught him this as he said it would be useful when he was a student here. He doubted that Uncle Filius knew that he would be using it now, but he wanted to be up early enough to see the pupils come in. It was all very well and good having the teachers and Hagrid as friends, but he really wanted to know some people closer to his own age as well.

With an excited smile on his face, Noah fell asleep.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Noah awoke the next morning to the beeping of his _tempus_ alarm. He was unsurprised when he noticed that he'd missed lunch and most of the afternoon. He had gone to bed at around six or seven anyway. It was now three in the afternoon and the students would be here in only another three hours for the Feast. He could hardly contain his excitement. Bouncing around on the balls of his feet, Noah burst out of his quarters and ran right into Minnie.

"Minnie!" He cried out in happiness, absently pushing his specs back up his nose.

"Noah! What on Earth are you doing, waking up so late?" She chastised in her Scottish accent. Professor McGonagall was a strict woman, but she still had a soft spot for the little brown and blue haired boy.

"I was up late exploring, so I set an alarm to make sure that I would not sleep through the Welcoming Feast." Noah explained. "Uncle Filius taught me the spell." He added as an afterthought. McGonagall tried to hide her smile and reminded herself that she was a teacher and she should not let him be sleeping in so late. But whenever she looked into those big lilac eyes of his, she could feel herself melt and could only barely restrain herself from cooing over the boy. "But now I have nothing to do." He frowned.

"I'm sure I can put you to work. You know the castle well enough to be sent on some errands, don't you?" She asked, smiling slightly at his enthusiastic nod. "Right then," she pulled out some parchment and a quill. "I shall make a list of tasks for you, when you have completed them, you may find a house elf and ask if they need any help with setting up the Great Hall." She handed the list to Noah, and watched as he quickly scanned it, humming to himself.

"Okay!" He beamed, looking back up at Minnie. "I can do these! I will see you at the feast!" He trotted off, down to the dungeons to start with his least favourite one on the list;

_Ask Professor Snape for this term's stock of potions for Madame Pomfrey and deliver them to her. Make several journeys if you must._

Noah groaned to himself. At least he was going to keep fit.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Two hours, forty-seven minutes later saw Noah in the Great Hall, helping the elves put up house decorations. Uncle Filius was with him, directing him on how to conjure the banners and other ornaments and where to place them.

"They is being here!" a squeal from the doors of the Hall rang out, and suddenly the Great Hall was amass with scrambling, popping, and scurrying as everyone took their seats and tried to make it look like they hadn't just been standing around decorating. Minnie's seat was on one side of Dumbledore and Noah sat on the other. He giggled when he saw Dumbledore flicking his wand at the decorations some more, under the table, even as the returning students took their places and waited for the sorting. When everyone was seated, Noah watched as Minnie walked in with all the first years who must have looked tiny for everyone else, but seemed so grown up to Noah.

One by one they all took their place at the stool, under the hat, then moved off to the appropriate house table. Once Minnie got to the last two names on the list, "Fred Weasley" and "George Weasley" and the hat had shouted out "Gryffindor!" for both, Dumbledore stood up and greeted the students.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts!" He bellowed using his cool speaker-voice charm; Noah couldn't remember the name of it. "And welcome to all those who have joined their first year. We staff hope that you find your stay at Hogwarts comfortable and enriching. Please remember that, though we make allowances for the first few days for first years, being late to classes is unacceptable and that the Forbidden Forest is off limits for all students. Being out after curfew will be punishable by whomever finds you, and it is their choice as to how many house points they deduct and detentions they give you. This punishment is their right to hand out and I cannot have a say in it, unless it is grossly unnecessary." Noah could have sworn that most of the heads at Gryffindor turned to look at Snape at that. "I must also welcome a special friend to the school. For reasons that I shall not divulge, we have a boy who will be living here in the castle until he is old enough to attend as a student. Noah, if you will." Dumbledore gestured for him to stand up, so Noah hopped off his elevated chair and promptly disappeared behind the tall Head table. He heard some sniggers coming from the crowd, so he instead climbed on top of his chair. Uncle Filius leant over from his left hand side and whispered the charm in his ear. Suddenly Noah could remember practising this spell a week ago when Dumbledore had asked him if he wanted to introduce himself to the student body at the Feast.

"Sonorus." He muttered and held his want to one cheek. "Hello everyone!" He called in an amplified voice, "My name is Noah Isaksen. I originally come from Svalbard and am eight years old. I hope to get on well with you all as Uncle Filius and Minnie can get a bit boring at times." He grinned at the horrified look on Minnie's face. He knew she had a reputation to withhold, and it entertained him to no end to embarrass her whenever he could. Uncle Filius merely chuckled along with the rest of the school as they caught sight of Minnie's red and spluttering face. He bowed and sat down, to the roars and cheers of the Gryffindor's who found it particularly hilarious for their Head of House to be so mortified.

"He is quite the character as you can see." Dumbledore continued, "Now, without further ado, let the Feast begin!" Food began to appear on the plates in front of them, and Noah grinned when he saw that his choice of food was slightly different and less refined than that of the other's. Gibsy had remembered his favourites.

At the end of the feast the first years were led away by Prefects and Noah made sure to join the Gryffindor's quickly as he knew their tower was nearest his quarters. He tagged along at the back of the crowd, suddenly too shy to talk to anyone, so instead waited for someone to notice him. Two pairs of arms then linked with his and he looked up in shock at two red headed boys much taller than he was.

"Fred and George Weasley." They introduced in sync.

"We liked your…"

"…Introduction speech, sprout. We think…"

"…That we'll get on like a Phoenix on fire."

Noah stared at them, confused, neck hurting as he watched their conversation like a Quidditch match.

"Nice to meet you, too." He greeted. "You two just joined first year, right?"

"Yep, but we have…"

"…two older brothers here…"

"…and another as well, but he's left…"

"…so it's just Percy and Charlie…"

"…But in two years time…"

"…our younger brother…"

"…ickle Ronnikins…"

"…is going to join too…"

"…And another year later…"

"…our one and only sister…"

"…Ginny, you'll be in her year…"

"…will join as well…"

"We have a big family." They finished in unison. Noah nodded, if not in agreement, then just to do another action with his head than side-to-side.

"I can see that. You two don't seem very nervous for first years." Noah commented. Most of the other kids were looking a bit green around the edges, much like he had only a few weeks ago.

"And you don't seem very nervous…"

"…for an eight year old."

"Hm." Noah agreed, "A lot has happened in the last few weeks." As if in confirmation he pulled out his wand to show them. They exchanged glances and pulled Noah off to one side. Their humorous demeanour had disappeared and they were looking at him very seriously.

"Hey, sprout, do you have any special abilities…"

"…or powers…"

"…or traits…"

"…or anything really…?"

"…You don't look normal…"

"…no offence…"

"…but you have a wand. And Dumbledore…"

"…he's letting you stay here even though…"

"…you're too young…"

"So what's different about you?" They asked, straight to the point. Noah looked at them and could see honest curiosity in their eyes, no malice or spite. They just wanted to know about him.

"According to Dumbledore, I am a Magical Reincarnation of Noah from the Great Flood. I used to be ill during storms because of guilt from my past self. My magic was blocked up until three weeks ago. When it was unblocked the dreams stopped and the rain isn't so bad anymore, Minnie and Uncle Filius started to teach me properly, too. Dumbledore came with me to get my wand and Madame Pomfrey made me these glasses." Noah took off the glasses and squinted as he saw glowing golden veins of magic flowing through the castle walls. "I can see magic. They stop it because it's too bright for me." Fred and George reached out and examined the glasses quickly, before handing them back to a grateful Noah who shoved them on and blinked to adjust his eyes to the sudden dullness. "Hogwarts is the best place for me to live while I'm learning magic, and this summer the castle underwent some changes, so my parents couldn't come and stay. But they can visit me during holidays and can even stay with me next summer!" The twins exchanged another glance, nodded and then smiled at Noah. They squatted down next to him and placed a hand on either shoulder.

"We're going to take you under our wing, sprout. Teach you our ways. We couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts so we could wreak havoc here, too. You can be our disciple, of sorts. We can become an infamous trio." They grinned, "You in?" Noah frowned in thought.

"So long as we don't hurt the castle, then I guess it is okay." The stone beneath him warmed in thanks and the twins looked down in shock before patting the warm patch. They didn't say anything, but merely looked at each other.

"Awesome. So you're in. Now let's get going before Percy comes and yells at us. I tell you, he is _so_ going to be a Prefect in his fifth year. At least Charlie's a _cool_ Prefect." Fred grinned at his twin and stood up with him.

"Come on Noah!" he called. "You can cotch in the Gryffindor common room."

"Cotch?" Noah asked as he overtook the two to lead them in the right direction.

"Yeah, chill, relax, hang out, that sort of thing." George explained.

"Hm. Cotch." Noah repeated, adding it to his mental dictionary. They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady and the twins mentally swore._ The password!_ Noah's brain cogs whirred and he stepped up to the portrait.

"Hello ma'am." Noah greeted pleasantly. "You look as beautiful as ever, this evening."

"Oh, Noah, you _do_ flatter me!" she giggled, fanning her blushing face furiously. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, you see ma'am," Noah started, widening his eyes to look more innocent, "these two," he gestured to Fred and George who quickly caught on and looked scared and naïve. "Got lost on their way, they got separated on one of the staircases from the rest of the group. I found them and helped them here, but none of us know the password." The twins nodded their heads glumly and tugged on Noah's sleeve.

"It was nice of you to ask, Noah, but it's called security for a reason." Fred said.

"We understand that you can't just give out the password to us, ma'am." George added, looking at the Fat Lady with big, smouldering brown eyes.

"Nonsense!" She roared, "Who needs a password! I'll let you in for free! Just make sure to ask someone else what it is, I won't be doing this again." Fred and George put on their most grateful faces and nodded.

"Thank you so very much, ma'am." Noah added as he slipped through the portrait hole. "I shall make sure to tell Mr. Gulliver on the fourth floor of how generous you were for us." The Fat Lady blushed.

"Get on in there you little tyke." She chortled, swatting her hand in his direction. Once the three were inside the common room, the twins burst out laughing.

"You're a natural!"

"We don't need to…"

"…teach you a thing!"

"That was brilliant…"

"…amazing…"

"…_hilarious!_" They continued laughing while Noah stood by, pink in the face from the praise.

"Hey, little brothers." A _massive_ redhead came and looped his arms around the necks of Fred and George. He was huge. As in, Noah came up to about his hip. Was being insanely tall a Weasley trait? "Who's this you've brought us?" He asked.

"Hey Charlie!" Fred said, resting a hand on his big brother's arm that was round his shoulders. "This is Noah, the one who called McGonagall 'Minnie'." The massive boy – Charlie, grinned at the mention of Minnie and released George to ruffle Noah's hair.

"That was a good one, squirt. Amazing timing as well; right at the start of the year. I doubt she's going to get much respect from the first years this year." He chortled. "I'm Charlie Weasley, by the way. Seventh and final year, looking to be a Dragon tamer."

"_Drager_?" [_Dragons?_] Noah exclaimed. He hurriedly pulled out his wand and showed the engraving to Charlie. "What is this?" He asked excitedly. "Er det en drage?" [_Is it a dragon?_] Charlie looked at the young boy with raised eyebrows, but examined the wand all the same. The tiny engraving had wrapped itself around the whole circumference of the handle and Charlie recognised it from an old mythic tale.

"It looks like the Midgard Serpent." He mused.

"Jörmungandr?" Noah questioned. Charlie nodded. Fred elbowed him slightly to get him to elaborate.

"Yeah, a sea serpent that grew so big it surrounded the world. Greatest enemy is Thor…" He trailed off. "I didn't know that wands were engraved like this." He commented, turning the wand around in his hands. "It's strange." Fred looked down at Noah and caught his eye. Noah saw a questioning look in his gaze and nodded to the redhead. Fred leant over, tugged Charlie down to his height, whispered something in Charlie's ear and led the bigger redhead away, once Noah had his wand back.

"They are very close." Noah observed as he saw Fred and Charlie go off to a corner and begin to talk in low voices as Fred told him about Noah.

"Yeah, they are." George agreed, "Sometimes I think they may have some sort of _thing_, if you know what I mean?" He winked and nudged Noah.

"Men det er skyldig i incest!" [_But that is incestuous!_] Noah shouted with wide eyes. George, having only understood the word "incest" and gathered the main message just chuckled and ruffled Noah's hair again. It was addictive.

"Perhaps, but it's not so weird here. It seems like your parents didn't really bring you up with the ways of the magical world, did they?" He asked. Noah shook his head.

"They performed magic at home, but as my magic was blocked they never had much hope. I was taught the basics and proper pureblood manners, but nothing else. Our living style was mainly Muggle once we left Svalbard." George nodded pensively.

"Well it's not that weird to have incest in pureblood families. It's how we keep the blood pure, really. Like, it's not recommended, but it's not frowned upon either." He shrugged, "'Specially as there're potions now for same-sex couples. No problem really." Noah just stared at him with comically wide eyes. He didn't have a problem with same-sex couples, but…but Fred and Charlie were _brothers_! He sat down on the floor and felt it cushion and warm up. He patted the ground and absently muttered his thanks. "Hey, you alright, sprout?" George asked as he crouched down next to Noah and once more noticed the warmed and softened ground.

"Culture shock." He muttered and George laughed.

"You'll get used to it; they're hardly away from each other for more than 5 minutes if they can help it. Fred'll be awful in lessons…always pining away for Charlie." He laughed again, "And people say that eleven is too young to feel anything real." Noah just nodded mutely. He sure had made some odd friends.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

**Chapter End.**


	5. In The Past IV

****Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling (apart from my OC's which are mine, mitt's off!), various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.****

**A/N:**** So I already had this all typed out, and thought I would put it up as a treat =] Now, there are proper mentions of Fred and Charlie in this, and I _know_ some people really want Fred and George to get together, but I've decided I'm going to leave it as it is in my plan until this story gains a bit more publicity and a few more readers and reviewers before putting up a poll asking who would prefer which pairing. This basically means that if you want to see something happen, you need to review, people! I had no clue about some wanting FxG until my lovely reviewer furrylittleprob told me what they'd prefer. I'm still writing this and will take your guys' wants into serious consideration as I do so, so unless you tell me what you want, you're not going to get it! I haven't been begging for reviews, as I thought it was sort of a given that authors would want them, so I won't go on about it, but please do review and let me know your thoughts. It doesn't have to be an essay. It could literally just be a smiley face (or sad face, whichever).**

**Also, someone else thought that I had made the Wizarding World's view on homosexuality and incest seem a bit too lax for the "norm", as such, so I'd just like to explain to any other readers that my take on this is that: **

**a) Purebloods would want their blood to remain as pure as possible, so incest isn't a problem.**

**b) Having children isn't an issue either because there's magic.**

**c) Wizards don't follow the same religions as Muggles, so their beliefs would be different.**

**I send out a personal thank you to Darkwill0w for pointing this out and giving me constructive points to go from; it's much appreciated!**

**Right, I've kept you much too long, here's Chapter 4; enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

It was only two weeks into term, and Fred and George were already in Filch's office being told off. Noah was currently huddled under Filch's desk because the three had gone in there on a mission. Noah had hidden out in Filch's office for hours before Fred and George were finally hauled in after setting Peeves up to prank some first year Slytherins. He had explored the tiny room and had found what they were looking for.

"_An interesting, useful, and damn right cool confiscated object."_

That had been the criteria he had been set to work from, and he had found it. But straight after finding it, he had heard Filch coming with Fred and George in tow. So here he was hiding under the desk, waiting for a break in Filch's rambling to create a diversion. It came when the old coot started to have a coughing fit, and Noah quickly took out his wand and aimed a spell at a suit of armour that he knew was just outside the office. Filch grumbled and got up, telling the boys to stay there while he investigated. He locked the door behind him.

Quick as a flash, Noah leapt up, took off his glasses and stared at the cupboard in front of him. He saw the faint glimmers of separate protection charms and got the twins over to start firing spells at it.

"So, sprout, what's the treasure?" George asked him as he prodded the cupboard with his wand.

"You see that folded up piece of parchment?" Noah asked. The twins nodded. "That." He could feel the weird stares at his head, but for their credit, the twins didn't stop firing all the pilfering unlocking spells they had learnt over the years. Finally Noah could see no more glimmers from the lock, and he stopped them, opened the door, grabbed the shimmering parchment, put on his glasses and ducked back under the table as he heard the door unlock, quietly whispering locking charms at the cupboard to make it seem more harmless.

"Blasted kids." Filch grumbled as he came back in, "always trying to pull one over on old Filch. Well I'll get 'em, mark my words, every last one of 'em. I'll see to it that they're hung from their nails in the dungeons where no one can hear their screams. Oi! I thought I told you two not to move." He pointed menacingly at the twins, and they obediently sat down for the rest of their punishment. Half an hour later, Filch left to go patrol more and the twins (and Noah) were free to go. The twins left first and Filch waited to make sure they'd gone. Noah waited for Filch to get up and quickly followed him out afterwards, slipping behind him without the coot's notice, and running off to where he had agreed to meet the twins.

They cheered and high fived, then ran to the Common Room to try to figure out how to get the parchment to work. Noah knew it was magical, he could see it without his glasses on. He assumed it was something to do with communication as it was parchment and thought it could work like a Muggle telephone, possibly. In his mind that fit the criteria.

They spent the rest of the evening in the first year dormitory, tapping the parchment with their wands. It had written a message telling them they needed a password. Every time they said something close enough, they could see a flicker of ink on the creamy surface. Eventually, it was Fred who came up with the idea of the creators being pranksters like them, which set them off on a whole new tangent until they finally got to;

_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good._

Suddenly a picture formed on the front cover and the words _"Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauder's Map."_

"It's a map!" George exclaimed, opening excitedly. He scanned it quickly. "Look! Here's us!" He pointed at three tiny specs in the Gryffindor first year dormitory, labelled "_Fred Weasley" "George Weasley" _and "_Noah Isaksen_".

"Look at Snape!" Fred shouted, and pointed a shaky finger to the name "_Severus Snape_" as he laughed. "In the lav!" He burst into raucous giggles, Noah and George soon joining in as they saw that, indeed, their formidable Potions professor was sitting on the toilet.

"This is brilliant!" George sighed. "You sure have an eye for this, sprout." He ruffled Noah's hair; it was becoming a habit, now. Noah just grinned happily, glad he had helped in the filching from Filch.

The Marauder's Map had been discovered.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

The months steadily flew by like water through a sieve, and soon Christmas was upon them. Most of the school chose to go home, including all four Weasley's, but Noah had to stay in the castle. On Christmas day he saw his parents again as they came to visit him laden down with presents, including a toy broom for him to start learning to fly on. He showed him every single spell he knew (which was quite a lot, and was fast overtaking the level required for a second year) and they clapped and cried and hugged him. They eventually had to leave, however, and Noah happily waved them off, not feeling as lonely as he had the first time. He had friends now.

He was glad that he waited for Madame Hooch to come back from visiting her family before he tried his new broom. He fell off. A lot. In fact, he fell off every single time he _took_ off. It wasn't until the Weasley's came back that he had any clue as to why he was such an incompetent flyer. The clue came in the form of Charlie Weasley who suggested that it may have something to do with Noah's wand, or more specifically, the engraving on it. Jörmungandr and his arch nemesis, Thor. Charlie hypothesised that he couldn't fly because his wand had some undeniable connection to Jörmungandr and Thor was the god of the sky, thunder, lightning. It may even explain why Noah had been so ill during storms previously…though he hadn't had his wand back then and the illness had stopped after his magic had been freed. Still, it was still a viable connection.

So, he tried flying again, with one of the twins holding his wand, but he still fell each time, no matter how hard he practised. Charlie was frowning the whole time and Noah had a feeling that something else was going to crop up that made him less normal. Again. It would be just his luck to somehow have some fragment of a giant sea snake's spirit buried inside his body as well.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

It snowed heavily that evening, a huge comforting blanket of white encompassed everything and Noah was glad that the students had come back on a Friday as this meant that he could spend all of the weekend playing out in the snow. He had become quite the snow-architect in his times of living far up North, and had pined away for the snow upon arrival in London. He arranged to meet the Weasley trio (he _had_ been introduced to Percy, but Percy always seemed to prioritise his work above everything else and so most probably would not be joining them to frolic in the snow. In fact it slightly disturbed Noah to think of Percy doing anything so detrimental to his studies as _frolicking_.) in the Entrance Hall the next day after breakfast.

And so it was once again that he fell asleep with an excited smile on his face, anticipating for the next day.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Noah was in high spirits the next day during breakfast. He positively drank down his coco pops and was bundled up in all his clothes and stuffings before the teachers could barely wish him a good morning. He impatiently waited in the Entrance Hall for the Weasley's, tapping his foot and behaving much as he had when he was younger and was waiting for his mama and papa to get ready for playing in the snow. _Finally_ they appeared, laughing and jostling one another, Charlie's arm slung just a bit _too_ casually around Fred's shoulders. Noah raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't comment. If the two brothers wanted to have some odd incestuous relationship then that wasn't a point he could judge on.

"At last!" He scolded, as they came up to him with sheepish grins on their faces. "I said after breakfast, not before lunch!" Noah puffed himself out to his most threatening stance, but the others merely burst out laughing.

"Sorry, squirt," Charlie gasped between giggles, "But having an eight year old tell you off isn't really something that's easy to take seriously." Noah just hmphed and stalked out the Main doors. He trudged down to the Black Lake and plopped himself down in the snow, beginning his first icy masterpiece. A snow wizard. In the background he could hear the starts of a free-for-all snowball fight and he snorted at their childishness as he built the large belly for his wizard. He let it go when snowballs landed perilously close to him and his artwork. he even let it go when one hit him square in the back. But when one came and knocked the newly formed head clean off his wizard's shoulders, he lost his patience. He whirled around to find the culprit and saw George trying to hide behind Fred, a guilty look of satisfaction on his face.

Noah roared and charged, leaping atop the redhead and tackling him to the ground. No one beheaded his snow wizard. No one. He grabbed handfuls of the cold white stuff and shoved it down George's many tops as he sat on top of him, pinning him down with his weight (and yes, okay, maybe a _little_ bit of magic, but only a bit!). George lay beneath him, writhing and shrieking in mirth and discomfort as the freezing flakes melted against his skin. Noah only stopped when the background noise of Fred and Charlie ceased. They had been laughing and cheering him on, when suddenly it was all quiet. It seemed both he and George noticed this at the same time, for they simultaneously looked over to one side, only to see Fred lying in the same position George was, apart from it was Charlie above him, and Charlie wasn't shovelling snow down his clothes. No, Charlie was _kissing_ the boy. Kissing him! _Him_ an _eleven year old_ boy!

"Oi! Charlie! Gerr'of him won't you?" George yelled at him. "He's too young for that." Noah, still sitting on top of the other twin, nodded in mute agreement. Charlie detached himself from Fred for long enough only to say,

"But this is my last year before going off to Romania!" Before Fred had grabbed his face and pulled it back towards his, whispering something so low that neither George nor Noah could hear it.

"And I'm not too young, George." Fred added, "This feels right. Maybe you should find yourself someone." And then he was snogging Charlie again and Noah felt too uncomfortable intruding on their private moment to keep looking. George whipped his head back 'round as well, and looked up at Noah. He leant up unsurely and pressed a quick peck to Noah's lips. When he pulled back the two just stared at each other with odd expressions on their faces. The same thought ran through their heads;

"_That was_ not_ right."_ They both started laughing and knew that their friendship was safe.

Noah clambered off him and George came over to help remedy the damage he had done to Noah's snow wizard. They ended up making four in total; one for each of them. The ones for Charlie and Fred were pretty much conjoined they were so close together.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

The snow stayed with them well into the start of Spring, much to Noah's delight. However, when it started to turn to slush and was more wet than fun, Noah had to admit that he had exhausted his playtime outside resources. He instead committed himself to exploring the castle again. He didn't get tutoring during term time because Minnie and Uncle Filius were too busy teaching the actual students, but he didn't mind because it meant he had a lot of spare time to play.

He also had a lot of spare time to look at the map. He had taken to sleeping in Fred and George's dorm every other night, and on the nights in between they would sleep in his quarters. Noah was pretty sure that the teachers knew, or the portraits at the very least, but no one was saying anything, for which he was eternally grateful.

It was on one such night, when the twins were staying in Noah's room, that they had whipped out the map for some late night fun to see who was breaking the rules.

"Oh! Look, Marcus Flint, fourth year and Gemma Farley, third year. Out after hours, oh how _naughty_!" George cooed as he pointed out the two sets of footsteps hidden away in an alcove. Fred and Noah laughed and the latter went back to perusing the map, when one name in particular caught his eye.

"Hey, who is Peter Pettigrew?" he asked, pointing to the name on the map, "And _why_ is he in bed with Percy?" George peered over Noah's head to get a better look.

"Hey, Fred, he's right. There's a bloke in Percy's bed!" Fred pushed George's head out the way to see for himself.

"Bloody hell." He breathed. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's get up there and have a look!" Noah and George scrambled to their feet and quickly checked the map for patrolling teachers, Filch or Peeves. When they saw it was all clear they dashed out the door to Noah's rooms, and ran up the spiral staircase to the Fat Lady. She watched them with a mischievous gleam in her eye like normal, but didn't say anything lest she give them away.

"Perfumed Puffin Pancreases." They whispered and hurried through the portrait hole that was presented to them by the silent gatekeeper. They snuck up the stairs to the third year dormitory and pushed open the door slowly.

"_Lumos_." The three said in unison, and their wands glowed dully at just the right level so they could see Percy and his beau, but not bright enough to wake them. They split up to search behind the drawn hangings of the beds to find Percy. At Fred's whispered confirmation the other two rushed over to see that Percy, was indeed in that bed. Alone.

"Where is he?" Noah hissed at George who held the map.

"He's _here_." George hissed back, prodding his shining wand at the two names Peter Pettigrew and Percy Weasley.

"Well he's obviously _not_." Fred chimed in, waving his wand to spread the light and exaggerate his point.

"He's probably hidden him with charms or something, this is _Percy_ we're talking about. You think he'd let anyone catch him with his boyfriend in the same bed?" George added. "Hey, Noah, d'you think you'd be able to see where he was if you took your specs off?" Noah nodded and went to do so when Percy groaned and started to wake up, sitting up groggily. Fred, George and Noah all exchanged wide eyed glances and Fred yelled,

"_Retreat!"_ and they fled to the cursing of Percy behind them. Panting with hearts hammering, the Troublesome Trio (as they had been dubbed by teachers and students alike) collapsed on Noah's bed in fits of adrenaline-fuled laughter.

"We'll find him one day." George panted.

"Yeah, but probably not best to look at night if Percy's _that_ light a sleeper." Fred added.

"Maybe we could ask a teacher who Peter is and what house or year he's in?" George suggested.

"But that could lead to awkward questions." Noah replied, "They might ask us why we want to know, or how we found out about him, or anything really, and we would have to admit to having the map _and_ catching Percy with another student in his bed who may or may not be in Gryffindor!"

"He's not in Gryffindor." Fred cut in quickly. "George and I know all the students in Gryffindor personally."

"So he's in another house, even better! That means we'll have to tell them that Percy was in bed with someone from _another_ house in Gryffindor tower." Noah frowned. "I don't think we should mention it. I say ask Percy himself if you're that interested."

"But he'll deny it!" George whined, "At least we can trust what the teachers tell us."

"And get Percy locked up in detention for the rest of term and possibly lose his chance of being a Prefect in two years time?" Noah shot a dark glare at the twins, daring them to go against him. They both visibly wilted and nodded their heads loosely. "Good. If Percy wants to have a secret boyfriend from another house then we'll just leave him be. And we _won't_ ask people about it, portrait, ghost, student, teacher or other, because that would lead to a gossip train and it would get back to higher authority who would get back to us. Okay?" He waited for the other two to nod glumly again before sighing and stretching. "Right. Time for bed now." Yawning, he crawled into the middle of the bed.

The house elves, once they had caught wind of what happened every other night, had taken to making his bed with three pillows, the middle of which Noah claimed. Fred and George settled in on either side of him and he snuggled down in the covers more.

"Night G, night F." Noah mumbled under his breath as sleep claimed him.

"Night N." They replied in unison and closed their eyes as well.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

From May onwards George and Noah spent much of their time alone together. Charlie was cramming for his N.E.W.T.s and Fred refused to leave his side in case he over exhausted himself, or forgot to eat or sleep or _breathe_. He was also there to make sure that Charlie took regular breaks to let his mind rest for a bit. The remaining two thirds of the Troublesome Trio could guess how most of these study-breaks were spent.

George was laden down with work as the teachers begun to get lazy towards the end of the year and just set essay after essay, so Noah spent a lot of his time being the Fred to George's Charlie, sitting with him, making sure he wasn't going to drop dead any second and getting him to socialise with his friends; Angelina and Alicia were nice girls, not icky like the ones Noah had known in kindergarten. They weren't obsessed with their hair, or dolls or dresses; they liked Quidditch, brooms and jeans. His best friend Lee Jordan generally sat with him and Noah as he had just the same amount of work to do as George. Noah also helped George by reading through piles of books about the subjects he was writing about and making notes. Noah wasn't too good at writing in English but, because of helping George, he was getting better at it, slowly but steadily, and his hand writing was improving as George kept complaining about how he couldn't read anything Noah had written. Therefore Noah made sure to write extra neatly, and it was now becoming a habit.

It was on one of the rare occasions when the Troublesome Trio were altogether that Moaning Myrtle was discovered.

It was a sunny day, mid-June, and the twins were dragging Noah off to the nearest girls' bathroom.

"But why are we going to a _girls'_ bathroom?" He wailed as he was pulled down the corridor to the door he was steadily beginning to view at the gates to hell. "I don't _want_ to go in a girl's bathroom!" The twins merely ignored his protests and the stares of other students and carried on talking over the top of him.

"Oh Ginny is going to be so pleased!" George sung.

"And mum is going to be so pissed!" Fred sniggered.

"Well we did tell her we'd send her one…"

"…we left it a bit late…"

"…but that could be seen as part of the plan…"

"…waiting for them to let their guards down, we were…"

"…and now that their guards are lower than a limbo stick…"

"…Ginny's going to get her toilet seat!" And so the twins dragged a spluttering Noah (now insulting their intelligence at sending their eight year old sister a Hogwarts' toilet seat) through to the second floor girls' toilets. The moment they entered they dumped Noah on the floor near the sinks and picked a cubicle at random before going to work. As Noah sat there grumbling, not even sure as to why they needed him there if all he was meant to do was sit on the floor, a ghostly white figure peeked her head out a closed cubicle door.

"Who are you?" She asked the back of Noah's head. "You're a boy!" She screeched, and Fred and George popped their heads out of the cubicle they were vandalising. "You're all boys!" Noah turned around and looked at the screaming ghost girl. She met his eyes and froze, before shrinking back into her cubicle slightly. "Get out." She said in a barely audible whisper. "Get out, get out, get out, get out, GET OUT!" The girl screeched. She then turned around and zoomed, wailing, down the toilet, yelling something about "_the eyes, the eyes are so similar._" Noah sat there shocked, before he looked at himself in the mirror. Nope, he looked normal to him…then who on Earth – or rather _what_ on Earth – was that?

"Who…what…?" Noah asked feebly as the twins re-emerged from the cubicle with a sparkling clean toilet seat.

"That was Moaning Myrtle. Charlie's told me about her." Fred answered, "Never thought I'd see her. As barmy as he said she was. I wouldn't take it to heart, N, she screams at everyone."

"Right." He nodded, shakily. What was wrong with his eyes? "Do you know how she died?" He asked. Fred and George looked at each other and shrugged.

"No clue, but it doesn't matter, does it? Let's just get out of here before she comes back." George replied.

"And I need to get back to Charlie, too, I'm sure he hasn't taken a break in the last two hours or so since I saw him." Fred replied, tugging on George's sleeve to get him to move. Noah and George exchanged glances and smirked.

"Yeah, I just _bet_ you're worrying about him not resting, aren't you?" George sniggered.

"I'm sure that you're not missing or _needing_ the breaks as much as he is." Noah added and then laughed when Fred went bright red, all the way to the tips of his ears.

"Shut up." He mumbled, hoisting the toilet seat up and pulling George along by his elbow. "Just because you two don't have anyone…"

"No, just because _we two_ are being normal and not having anyone when we're only eleven!"

"And eight!" Fred just ignored them and carried on to the owlery. He really _did_ want to get back to Charlie, and the sooner they posted this, the sooner he could go and sit with his brother.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Although Noah was determined to find out just what was so wrong with him and his eyes, every time he asked someone about Moaning Myrtle he would get the same answers of "Sorry, don't know, don't care." Or "It doesn't really matter, does it? It's _Moaning Myrtle_ for Merlin's sake!" or, from the nicer ones, "Sorry, I don't know, but maybe (insert student or teacher or ghost or portrait name here) would know." The thing is, even when Noah went and asked those who the nicer ones recommended him to, he never got any closer. It just seemed that no one really cared about Myrtle.

He had tried talking to her, himself, of course, but every time she saw him, she would scream at him to get out and then go hide in a U-bend. It was a battle and it was one he was losing. Fred and George didn't seem to understand his reasons for wanting to find out about her, and Charlie was so busy preparing for, and then _doing, _the exams that he barely had time for Fred, let alone Noah.

Noah felt sad that Charlie was going to be leaving so soon after Noah had met him, but he figured he still had years with Fred and George, and he was sure he'd make a friend in the next new year that came in. He only hoped that the new school year brought with it someone who could help him figure out all these loose ends about his life. There was so much he didn't understand about himself. The main one being the only question that Dumbledore had never been able to answer for him;

"_But why am I me again, now?"_

By the end of his school career, Noah vowed to have found this out.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

**Chapter End.**

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><p><strong>AN:**** I know that, technically, Fred and George say that they'll send Ginny a toilet seat in their third year, Harry's first, but I figured; why wait until then? They might as well just do it in their first year as by their third you'd expect Ginny to be more used to them leaving. Anyway, that's me done =] I _have_ got Chapter's 5 through 7 already typed up, but I'm not planning on uploading them yet because I'm really not happy with the way they've turned out and they need some serious fine tuning. So I'll see you all after some unknown period of time. Bye bye!**


	6. In The Past V

******Disclaimer:************This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling (apart from my OC's which are mine, mitt's off!), various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.******

******A/N: I'm baaa-aaack :D I haven't updated in months because I'm struggling with balancing writing and school work and so I've been prioritising my education before my writing :/ I'm so sorry! I've had a massive writer's block and I haven't been in the mood for anything other than working or reading fiction rather than writing it, and I'm getting impatient for the _real_ story to begin; therefore this will be the last chapter of this prolonged Prologue before the proper stuff starts happening. I'm sorry it's so slow updating and the story is rushing through years in a matter of 3,000 words, but I've been so busy and I didn't want to leave any readers I have hanging for too long. So a short update for you all.******

******Enjoy!******

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

September 1st 1990. This was the first Noah saw of the twins since the end of term the year previous. He watched them as they sat down at the Gryffindor table, proud second years.

Or at least, they should have been, but Noah could tell something was wrong. George looked like he was trying to smile for the both of them as Fred sat there, staring at his empty plate, miserable. Noah didn't even pay attention to the sorting as he waited impatiently for the Feast to begin. When he had re-introduced himself to the new first years and Dumbledore had concluded the speech and sat back down, Noah tugged lightly on the old wizard's robes.

"Yes, my boy?" Dumbledore looked down with a smile on his face. Noah had spent the most recent summer at Hogwarts and, as agreed, his mama and papa had come to stay for a little while, but not for too long as Noah had to learn and also, when you weren't learning or exploring, there wasn't that much to do at Hogwarts. Still, they came and saw him every Sunday after staying for two weeks at the start of the holidays. The days after that, Noah had been left to his own devices as he had the year previously. However, this summer he had more time to himself and so had spent a lot of it in the Library, reading tome after tome. He hadn't been really looking for anything in particular, but he had found some interesting topics, things about Animagi, things about soul-splitting, things about immortality.

"Please can I eat at the Gryffindor table tonight?" He asked, looking up imploringly at the man he had come to think of as a grandfather. "Fred looks really sad." He added hopefully when Dumbledore didn't look like he was going to say yes. The man cast his gaze quickly over to the Weasley twins and then back to Noah's large, lilac eyes. He sighed wearily, knowing he shouldn't be allowing this, but knowing he was going to give in at some stage.

"Of course you can, Noah, just make sure you go back to your _own_ rooms tonight." He replied, meaningfully looking over the rim of his glasses. Noah beamed and nodded and trotted down the length of the table. When he reached the twins, he put his arms in between their two bodies and pushed them apart, sticking himself in the gap instead. He snaked his short arm (because, much to his annoyance, Noah had barely grown _at all _over the past two years or so) around Fred's waist (which was thankfully slim, meaning even his tiny arm could fit around it completely, which was good, otherwise his ego would have taken a serious knock), and nuzzled his head under Fred's limp arm, forcing it round his own shoulders. He heard some cooing from the girls sitting nearby but ignored them, focusing solely on Fred.

"Welcome back, F." Noah greeted as Fred looked down with a mixture of amusement, shock, and that same _lonely_sadness on his face. "Why're you so down, hm?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Oh, you know, just the normal start-of-the-year blues." Fred laughed nervously. "_Bullshit._" Noah thought, but didn't say it aloud because he knew he wasn't meant to know that sort of language at only nine.

"Hm. You know you can see him during holiday's right? And he'll take Christmas off to see you as well. That's the plus in dating family." Noah replied instead, and Fred seemed to visibly deflate.

"I know." He murmured, "I just miss him so much." Noah could feel the starts of sobs shaking the redhead's body and sent a look to George who nodded and obediently began picking up food from the table and sneaking it in under his robes.

"_Dumbledore said to go back to my own rooms."_ Noah thought, glancing up to the Head Table, _"Not that other people couldn't come to _mine_."_He stood up on the bench and tugged Fred to his feet as well, before hopping off it, taking one of Fred's bigger hands in his and pulling him towards the doors of the Hall. He looked over his shoulder and mouthed the word "password" to George and he quickly asked the new Prefect for the password for later. They didn't want a repeat of last year.

When they were in Noah's rooms, the nine year old led the now definitely shaking redhead to his bed and pushed him down gently. Automatically Fred curled himself up into a ball around one of the three pillows that Noah had asked Gibsy to make his bed with as of the first day of the year. George set out the food he'd nicked on the coffee table in front of the sofa by the fireplace and then came and sat next to his depressed twin on the bed, stroking his hair softly.

"We all miss him, Fred, obviously you more than others, but still. We'll see him soon enough. It's not like he's died." George soothed him.

"I know, it's just…he's not…and I'm not…!"

"Shush, we know, F, we do." Noah came and sat down next to him as well. "Missing someone is an awful thing, especially when you love them and the one thing you want to be able to do is see them and hold them but that's the one thing you can't do." At that George stared at him and even Fred peered up at him from his foetal position to look at him oddly.

"That's mature of you. Y'know, for a nine year old." They said simultaneously. Noah flushed,

"Yes well, I did a lot of reading this summer." He mumbled. "You don't necessarily have to have been in love to understand the feeling." Fred was about to open his mouth to disagree when George cut across him.

"But we both know that you have been in love, of course." He paused dramatically while the other two looked at him quizzically. "With my beautiful self." He swished his head arrogantly, letting his hair sway in the air. Noah just sat there looking horrified while Fred snorted, then burst into laughter until tears of happiness started to course down his cheeks instead.

"Thanks guys." He sniffled when he had calmed down enough to talk. "I don't know what I'd do without you two."

"Probably – "

"Hey, you guys know what you can do now that you're second years?" Noah interrupted what was bound to be a vastly inappropriate insult. George just mock-glared at him while Fred looked on, before perking up and smiling.

"Quidditch!" He exclaimed happily.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

That weekend Noah went with the twins to the Quidditch pitch to watch them try out for the team. They decided that teamwork would be best between the two and that they shouldn't try and split up into chasers, one of three, or keeper or seeker. Especially not when the person they were trying out for _was_the keeper. So, instead they went for beaters.

Now, Noah was biased, obviously, but they made bloody brilliant beaters if he ever did see some. They were almost graceful with the way they hit the bludgers round the pitch, which is a particular feat to achieve when you're flying round waving a bat like a caveman.

By the time the two touched-down, Noah was almost certain that they had made the team, if Oliver Wood's grin was anything to go by. Wood said that he would post the results in the Common Room the next day and the Troublesome Trio left the pitch (once the twins had showered as Noah refused to go anywhere with them reeking like a rotting carcass) to go for lunch.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

The next day there was a crowd of excited people in the Gryffindor Common Room, all swarming round the notice board. One by one people dropped off looking disappointed until only a few remained with smiles on their faces. Two of these were Fred and George Weasley.

They had made the team!

A month later saw Gryffindor winning their first match against Ravenclaw.

A further month later saw Fred and George Weasley being temporarily banned from Quidditch.

A week afterwards, the ban was lifted just in time for their practise match against Slytherin. Gryffindor won.

After a fortnight, the twins were banned from playing again. They missed their match against Hufflepuff and Gryffindor lost.

"You have to stop this!" Noah cried out in indignation as he watched all a hundred heads of Fred and George Weasley turn to look at him. "Getting into trouble is affecting your Quidditch and if you're not careful then Wood will kick you off the team."

"But this is more fun." fifty Freds protested.

"And this prank is our best yet!" fifty Georges added.

"We can make ourselves run round school…"

"…and everyone's going to see copies of us…"

"…going in one direction, then they'll turn around…"

"…and they'll see us again in the opposite direction!"

"We can make them think they're going insane, it's perfect!"

"Urgh." Noah just dropped his head into his hands and groaned. He was getting a headache from these two. The pranks in first year had been simple enough; mainly getting Peeves to do their dirty work by terrorising other firsties, redirecting Myrtle's U-bend to lead to a boy's bathroom, hexing people's appearances to match their personalities (Snape's hadn't changed in the slightest apart from, maybe, becoming slightly more hideous; hair that tiniest bit greasier, nose that tiniest bit more hooked), quick and easy stuff that only gained a few detentions, long lectures and essays as to why what they were doing was wrong, and perhaps a disappointed look from McGonagall.

But now their tricks were getting so much worse. They still stuck to Noah's agreement of not physically harming the castle, but that didn't stop them from staining the second floor corridor in the East wing with sewage. Nor did it stop them from placing Notice-Me-Not charms on the main classrooms' doors, meaning many students and even teachers didn't turn up to lessons. And now they had found a spell in a book in the Restricted Section (how they got in, Noah didn't even want to think about) that allowed them to clone themselves fifty times. Fifty was the max, but with two of them, there seemed to be a hundred Freds or Georges, or any combination of the two, currently crammed into a little used bathroom on the fourth floor. Noah was beginning to develop an aversion to bathrooms.

"Just…just give it a break after this, okay? You guys really are going to get yourselves into too much trouble that you won't be able to handle it. The school have the rights to take you off the Quidditch team, give you detentions for the rest of your school lives and even take away your visitation rights to Hogsmeade next year." Noah sent the 'original' twins a sharp glare. When one hundred mouths opened to retort he cut over them, "And I don't care if the map lets you know all the secret passageways into Hogsmeade anyway, you'll have to visit in secret _every time_, and McGonagall could easily set you detentions every time it's a Hogsmeade weekend." All one hundred mouths snapped closed at that, and the 'original' two grudgingly nodded in agreement that they would leave the pranks to rest at least until after Christmas.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Noah _knew_he would get himself into a world of problems when he signed up with the twins. He had had a feeling that somewhere, something would go wrong. And now he was lying in the hospital wing with Madame Pomfrey fretting over him and casting angry glares at the redheaded twins that sat at his bedside, heads bowed in shame.

"We're sorry, N." George mumbled.

"We just kept thinking about it after you brought up the Hogsmeade argument again last week." Fred explained.

"We didn't think it would get you hurt…"

"…but that tree is bloody terrifying…"

"…any sane person would get scared…"

"…so really, at the time…"

"…shoving you in front of us to go first…"

"…seemed like the best course of action." Noah just snorted and muttered something about 'what Gryffindor courage?' under his breath.

It had all happened merely two hours ago, on a sunny day in March, three days before Noah's tenth birthday. The twins had blown up the Potions lab the week previously. On purpose. Which angered Noah to no end as they could have actually damaged the room if one thing had gone wrong. As it was, they had only adjusted a potion so that when they added the Salamander tails it would explode (apparently harmlessly) and produce a gas that would make everyone within a ten-metre radius burp purple bubbles for the rest of the day. They assured Noah that it was an endothermic reaction, so no fire or anything that would hurt the castle was emitted. All in all, it had been a careless, risk-free experiment of theirs, but Noah had already lectured them on it before they even had a chance to explain the Chemistry behind it. Yet again, he had brought up the fact that their Hogsmeade rights could be taken away if the teachers so chose to do so. The twins had brushed it off, and just sat there obediently as they listened to Noah acting mother hen.

The next week, today, they had decided to try out all of the exits on the map that led to Hogsmeade, as a means of testing which ones were still intact and which weren't. And so, the Troublesome Trio followed the map around the school and searched for the seven passages that it depicted leading outside to Hogsmeade. The one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy had been long discovered by the three back in the twins' first year. They found another on the fourth floor behind a mirror that began as a narrow corridor, then enlarged into a massive chamber, before narrowing out again. The three didn't explore further than the chamber as the whole place looked severely unstable and ready to collapse. Another was beneath a statue of an ugly one-eyed witch with a humpback. The map showed them how to open it, illustrating three little pairs of footsteps tapping the statue with their wands and saying the word "_Dissendium_". It took them a few tries; tapping her face, head, poking her in her one eye (George) and trying to stick their wand up her nose (Fred), but eventually they tapped her hump and she moved forwards to reveal a staircase. This one ended up leading to the basement of Honeydukes, a shop that the twins told Noah sold every type of sweet you could imagine. The nine year old vowed to get someone to take him there on a shopping trip at some point in the future.

Finally, after locating and opening all six passageways, only one was left. The Trio uncertainly made their way out the castle and trekked over to the Whomping Willow. Upon arrival the twins had panicked, not knowing how to stop the tree swinging its branches long enough to find the entrance to the tunnel that was supposedly there, and, with the map not revealing any hints this time, had subsequently shoved Noah in front of them, claiming he was the smallest and least likely to get hit. Thus, an hour later saw Noah lying, knocked unconscious, in a bed in the hospital wing, nursing a broken wrist and elbow on one arm, and a fracture in his spinal cord that could have paralysed him had the twins not immediately taken him to see Madame Pomfrey in time for her to heal it before he moved around too much and made it worse.

Twenty minutes previously Noah had awoken, just in time to catch the end of the forty-minute lecture that the mediwitch was giving the ashamed redheads. Almost instantaneously, the twins had promptly ignored the witch and had rushed to Noah's bedside to start apologising and explaining their (lack of) reasoning.

"I don't care." Noah sighed as he rubbed his eyes. His glasses had been knocked off his face during the attack of the tree, and so the entire wing was shining at him like mad, the only objects that weren't being the twins and Madame Pomfrey, who was currently transfiguring a new pair for him. Humans never seemed to sparkle to Noah. The most difference that he could see between a magical person and a Muggle was that magical people tended to have a faint outline that shimmered slightly, almost like an aura. That, at least, didn't hurt his eyes and give him a headache. "Just, if you ever do decide to go back and try again, leave me out of it. I'll just go and talk to Lee or Katie or someone." The twins were quick to nod and accept his forgiveness in exchange of his terms. Madame Pomfrey just clicked her tongue disapprovingly, and handed Noah his new glasses, which he crammed onto his face gratefully.

"I'll let you know that I am not pleased with you two corrupting such a young mind." She clucked at Fred and George. Noah made a noise of indignation in the back of his throat and retorted,

"I'm not young! I'm going to be ten in three days!" The twins stared at him with wide eyes at this.

"Since when was your birthday in three days?" They asked in unison. Noah raised an eyebrow and gave them a look that clearly said 'Do you _really_want me to answer that?'

"Okay, fine, but why didn't you tell us last year?" George conceded. "We would have done something for you!"

"Well, it was during the Easter holiday's last year and you two went home…I had to stay here and there was no point in making the both of you miss an entire holiday with your family just because of one day." It had been a lonely birthday last year. His parents had sent him presents via owl, but didn't visit, and so Noah celebrated with the teachers and house elves. It was still nice to have people to celebrate with, but without your parents and friends there it really was lonely to a certain extent. "Plus, you had to revise. Your exams were the week after you got back. And you did well, so it paid off."

"Yes, well with the amount of trouble these two have been causing this year, I doubt their exams will go so well this time round!" Madame Pomfrey huffed. "The amount of people I have seen in here because of _your_ practical jokes!" She pointed an accusing finger at the twins. "Now, both of you, _out_! Noah needs rest and he won't get it with you two trouble-magnets hovering around his bedside!" Grumbling, the twins stood up and left reluctantly, being pushed and shooed by Madame Pomfrey. Sighing, Noah let his head fall back into the fluffy pillow. His bones had been healed, but the joints still felt sore, and apparently he had to leave it at least another three hours before he should try standing up and putting pressure on his spinal cord. Quietly complaining about hyperactive twelve year olds, Noah shut his eyes and went to sleep. He had three hours to pass, he might as well do it in the easiest way.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

**Chapter End. **

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><p><strong><span>AN: Okay. So that's the end of Fred and George's second year. We all know who comes into the story during their third! ;D I know, I know, it's short and pathetic and can't really be counted as an update, but I should hopefully be back, um, soon...ish with another. Until then!**


	7. The Philosopher's Stone I

****Disclaimer:****This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling (apart from my OC's which are mine, mitt's off!), various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.****

**A/N: Disaster has struck! D: My laptop died on me, completely and utterly, and I had to get my sister's boyfriend to fix it, but that included reinstalling Windows 7 and wiping all my files that I had. I _had_ backed everything up on an external HDD, but I forgot to eject it properly which resulted in corrupt data (which can't be recovered) 'cos of write caching. He thinks he may be able to save some of it, but there's no guarantee that my story files will be saved. Now most of them are saved on Google Docs anyway, so I've essentially only lost changes I've made since January, which is none on my other stories, but a lot on this one. Basically, what I'm trying to say, is that a fair portion of this story may be lost, so I only have what I have saved here on Google Docs left to upload which is a_ lot_ less than what I would have preferred. I'm sorry! D: I'll try and type it up again at some point, but my exams are next month so chances are it'll take a while. A _long_ while. That's the problem with being a schoolgirl and a fic writer.**

**Anyway. Here's the first part of The Philosopher's Stone. From now on there'll be direct quotes from the books/movies in the chapters as well, _which I claim no ownership to_.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

Noah went home that summer, much to the delight of his parents. Dumbledore had told him that he had gained enough control over his magic to go home and live in a Muggle environment without causing any ruckus. Though pleased to be home, Noah missed the castle; her warm comforting presence and the company that he kept whilst there.

Thus, using his new found-independence and assuring his mama and papa that he was _ten_and perfectly capable of looking after himself, Noah found himself wandering around Little Whinging many days of the week.

It was on one such day in mid-July when Noah was exploring the neighbourhood (a pastime that he had developed from being left to his own devices in Hogwarts one too many times) when he noticed the most peculiar thing that made one certain house on the road behind his stick out like a sore thumb. It was an owl. Many owls. In fact it seemed that the whole front drive of Number 4 Privet Drive was swarmed in owls. Curiosity peaked, Noah moved forwards, through the owls, and ducked underneath a windowsill to peek in through the netted curtains. Inside there was a boy, only a year older than him if these owls were indeed carrying acceptance letters, jumping around in a mass of falling letters as a large man with an unfortunate face tried to grab them all and hide them from the boy. A thin, pinched-looking woman was screaming from the sidelines as a boy that was pure_ blubber_cheered on what must have been his father. The thin boy in the middle finally managed to grab one and dashed from the room with the unfortunate-faced man charging after him roaring. A few minutes later he heard a slam and saw the now purple-faced man enter again, gleefully carrying a crumpled letter.

Frowning, Noah stepped carefully away and moved to one of the owls he recognised from Hogwarts. Meeting the bird's eyes he reached out a hand for it. It stared disdainfully at him, then his hand and hooted at him meaninglessly.

"I know I am not that boy inside there." Noah said to the creature, pointing at the severely manicured house, "But maybe I can help get the letter to him." The owl just looked at him, aloofness oozing out of its every pore, and hooted at him again. Sighing in frustration, Noah tried again. "I want to help. Come on! You've _seen_ me at Hogwarts, you _know_ I'm…" He glanced over his shoulders nervously, and leant in towards the owl. "…_magical_." He finished. If birds could raise eyebrows, Noah was pretty sure that this one would be. He let out a strangled noise of annoyance and shoved his hand in the owl's face again. After an intense staring match between bird and boy, the owl hooted one last time then stuck its leg out to him. Smiling in relief, Noah untied the letter and looked at the address.

_"Mr. H. Potter_

_The Cupboard Under The Stairs_

_4, Privet Drive_

_Little Whinging_

_Surrey"_

Noah blinked. He rubbed his eyes and blinked again.

_'Mr. H. Potter'_. Harry Potter. That was _the_ Harry Potter living in a house _one road away from_Noah. And his relatives weren't letting him have his acceptance letter? What were they, some sort of clan of Wizard-hating Muggles? Noah looked at the envelope again and corrected his previous thought.

_'The Cupboard Under The Stairs'._ Maybe they were just Harry-hating Muggles. That thought saddened Noah to no end as he put two and two together and realised that the bang he had heard earlier was most probably the door to said cupboard being slammed shut. Filled with determination, the ten year old ran home, the haughty owl following him to make sure he actually _did_deliver the letter.

"Mamma! Jeg trenger en kurv fylt med konfekt og vin!" [_Mama! I need a hamper filled with confectionery and wine!_] He called as he ran into the house. His mama appeared looking shocked and quizzical. "Jeg har ikke tid til å forklare. Vær så snill!" [_I don't have time to explain. Please!_] Trusting her son, Elisa Isaksen quickly transfigured some paper into a basket and then rummaged around in her biscuit cupboard for some chocolates and other treats.

Meanwhile, Noah ran to his room and grabbed his little black book of spells, where he had written down every single spell he knew. With that and the letter in hand, he rushed back downstairs and poked his head into the cupboard under _their_stairs. It was tiny and cramped. Feeling slightly disgusted at the living quarters that Harry Potter must be forced to inhabit, he left to find his mother in the kitchen, wrapping the basket up in cellophane. He flicked through his book to the most recent pages and found the one he was looking for. The cloning spell.

"Vennligst bruk denne til å lage kopier. Jeg trenger kun fire, kan du kaste resten bort." [_Please use this to make copies. I only need four, you can throw the rest away._] His mama looked perplexed but performed the spell that he wasn't allowed to until he was seventeen. Instantly the room filled with fifty neatly made hampers. Noah grabbed four, quickly wrote a note on the back of the letter before stuffing it into his pocket and left his book with his mama before taking off out the house again. He reached number 4 and rang on the doorbell. The door was opened on the chain and the unfortunate-faced man appeared in the slit between the door and the doorframe.

"We don't buy at the –" The man began.

"I'm not selling." Noah cut in quickly, knowing that if he had let the man finish his sentence the door would have been slammed shut in his face. He smiled angelically up at the suspicious man and waited patiently as the door was gently shut then un-chained before being opened completely to reveal the entirety of the fat man in front of him.

"What do you want, boy?" The man asked, pure venom in his voice. Noah was not deterred; this man had nothing on Snape.

"My mama and papa and I moved in recently in Picket Lane." Noah replied, phrasing his words carefully and pointing down the far end of Privet Drive. "She has sent me round to deliver hampers to the surrounding neighbours. I have done the rest of your road and only have four left." Noah explained patiently to the man that was clearly slightly moronic, and gestured to his hands, full of the hampers.

"Who is it Daddy?" asked the blubber boy, appearing next to his whale of a father.

"Some foreign neighbourhood brat giving out free hampers." The man told his son. Trying very hard not to get angry, Noah smiled at the boy and continued on with his speech as if he hadn't been interrupted in the first place.

"Inside you will find different types of biscuits and chocolates and my papa's favourite red wine." Noah glanced down at the hamper in his hand to check he had explained it correctly. The man's eyes lit up at the mention of the wine, and the boy positively started to _drool_at the mentions of chocolates.

"Oh get one Daddy, please!" The boy whined. "You and Mummy haven't got me enough chocolate. And I'm a growing boy." The man chuckled and…_smiled_ at his son. The sight was a disturbing one and Noah fought hard not to recoil from it.

"Of course you are, champ!" The man roared in laughter, clapping his son on the shoulder. Noah was almost _sure_ he could see ripples in the fat as he did so. "You." He grunted towards Noah. "Get inside quickly before the bloody birds do." Noah looked over his shoulder at all the owls and winked at them, before turning back to the man and nodding solemnly, stepping inside the house not a moment too soon as he slammed the door shut behind Noah. "Just put it in the kitchen." He growled and pointed towards a room at the end of the hallway, before lumbering off as his son tugged on his sleeve, trying to get him to watch the Telly with him. The two disappeared off through a door to one side and Noah quickly made his way past the cupboard, pretending that he couldn't see the light glint off of a pair of spectacles as he passed the grate to the heavily padlocked door, dumped the hamper unceremoniously onto a table with only three chairs, then turned on his heel and left the room. Once in the hallway again, he quickly looked around to make sure he was alone, then pulled the letter out of his trouser's pocket and slipped it under the door to the cupboard. He heard a muted noise of shock through the grate and shushed the boy under his breath.

"Expect a visit soon Mr. Potter." Noah whispered hurriedly through the grate. "My name is Noah and I'm going to make sure that you get out of here."

"Who are you people?" Came an equally quiet reply. Noah grinned at the question and replied happily,

"Wizards!"

"Wizards? With wands and pointy hats? They _exist_?" The boy asked, sounding genuinely confused. Noah frowned.

"I'm assuming your relatives never told you anything about the magical world." Noah saw a shift of movement in the darkness of the cupboard and realised that the boy was shaking his head.

"No. Are you sure you're real? That this is all real? You're not making things up are you?" Fingers appeared at the grate as the boy gripped it in desperation.

"Are you still here, boy?" The booming voice of the man carried through to the hallway.

"Yes sir, I was just leaving. The hamper is in the kitchen, thank you very much for your hospitality." Noah heard a grunt in reply and bent back down to the door. "I'm real, Mr. Potter. I'm a wizard; it's all true. And you're one too; you're a wizard Mr. Potter!" And with those last hurried words, Noah left the house and nodded the okay to the owls still sitting outside. One by one they all flew off, and Noah walked through the mass of feathery bodies, quickly walking home. He needed to floo call Dumbledore, and he needed to do it soon.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

"Dumbledore's Office." He asked the fireplace as he stuck his head into the green flames. Immediately his view spun and then stopped on the image of Dumbledore in his office. "Professor Dumbledore!" Noah cried out. Dumbledore jumped slightly and looked over at his fireplace.

"Noah? To what do I owe the honour? Has something happened with your magic? Should I notify the Ministry?" He asked as he moved over to crouch in front of the fireplace. Noah's disembodied head shook as he replied.

"No, not at all, I have something even _more_ important to tell you sir, it concerns Harry Potter!" Dumbledore's eyes widened, then narrowed, and his face took on a very sombre expression.

"What has happened, Noah?" He asked quietly but urgently.

"I was exploring the neighbourhood when I walked in front of this house with all these owls in front of it." Noah begun, "I peeped in through the window and saw a small boy jumping on a table trying to catch a letter as hundreds of them flew through the room. He got one and ran, but then this big fat man followed him and came back with the letter in his hand. I managed to convince an owl to give me a copy and I ran home to start my plan." Figuring that Dumbledore could live without the details of that, he skipped ahead in his story. "It worked, and I got inside the house, I slipped him a letter under the door of the cupboard and had a short conversation with him. He didn't know anything about the magical world, sir, _anything_ at all! I told him that people would visit soon and get him out of there. He can stay with me for the rest of summer if he needs to." Noah added the last bit, trying to look helpful and not just the bearer of bad news. Dumbledore was quiet for a few minutes before suddenly standing and sending his Phoenix, Fawkes, out the window.

"Hagrid and I will be around shortly, please keep the Floo open." He ordered, Noah nodded eagerly, feeling slightly guilty for the excitement that he was feeling at the thought of seeing some action. He turned to pull his head out the fire, but a voice stopped him. "Oh, and Noah?" Dumbledore called. Noah looked back at the man. "That was a very brave and noble thing for you to do, I would hate to think of the extents we would have had to have gone to to get Harry his letter otherwise." The twinkle was back in the blue eyes and he was smiling kindly at Noah. The ten year old beamed up at the old man and nodded once before leaving the fire and allowing the network to open up to other calls now that his was over.

Sure enough, not five minutes later the tall, thin frame of Dumbledore, and the massive, bulky one of Hagrid appeared in the fireplace.

"Hagrid!" Noah cried out happily as he launched himself across the room to hug the half-giant.

"Noah! 'ow are yer?" Hagrid asked merrily as he clutched the child to his chest.

"I'm good, Hagrid! Please help Mr. Potter, the people who he's living with are just awful!" Hagrid chuckled at Noah's scrunched up button nose, but sobered quickly at the thought of what the Dursley's had done to Harry.

"Trust me, Noah, if I 'ave anything ter do with it, those damned Dursley's will be the ones needin' 'elp!"

"Hagrid." Dumbledore said calmly, placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "It is time for us to leave." Hagrid nodded and dropped Noah on the floor gently, before straightening up and pulling out his pink umbrella menacingly.

"I want to come, too." Noah said, tugging on Dumbledore's robes.

"Now, Noah, I'm not sure if that would be wise, your mother for one –"

"I give him permission, Professor." Elisa cut in as she joined the other three in the Living room. "Mikkel is at work currently, but I am sure he would give Noah permission as well. In fact, if I might be so bold, I would ask if I could join you also. I have no doubt that Noah has invited the boy to stay here for the remainder of the summer and I would like to see the child who will be our charge for the remaining month and a half."

"I really think it would be for the best if –"

"Please!" Noah begged the old man, widening his eyes knowing full well how that affected Dumbledore. He had never yet lost an argument while using these eyes. Letting out a weary sigh suitable for the age that he rarely acted, Dumbledore raised his hands in defeat.

"Alright. You both may come. Now we really must be off, time is of the essence." Dumbledore replied before stalking out with Hagrid close behind him. Mother and son shared a secret smirk of victory before following the two Hogwarts officials out their front door and down the road to the door of another house.

Dumbledore rapped smartly on the door with his fist. The four waited as the door was opened on the chain again. All Noah saw this time, however, was a single eye that widened at the sight of them, before slamming the door shut again. The loud clicks of locks could be heard. Dumbledore shook his head sadly.

"We have tried to be civil." He replied and stepped aside as Hagrid took position at the door. Pulling one stocky arm across his body and holding the elbow of it with his other hand, Hagrid aimed his shoulder and lined it up with the door, before leaning back and then ramming against it with full force. After only two hits, the door caved and the four were granted access to the house.

"Breaking and entering!" Cried the loud voice of the blubbery man with a purple face. "Intruders! Police! Police!" The thin woman, whom Noah had viewed from the window, could be seen in the background fiddling with a Muggle phone attached to the wall. Immediately, Dumbledore pointed his wand at it and it flew from the wall before the woman even had a chance to press 9. As Noah's mama rebuilt the door behind them with a well practised reparo, Hagrid loomed over the walrus-man as he quivered in anger and, if he knew what was good for him, fear.

"Yer." Hagrid growled out, prodding the man in the chest, "'Ave kept 'Arry in the dark, abou' who 'e is, for all these years! Yer never told 'im abou' the Wizarding world or anything! Yer denied 'im 'is _past_!" Noah turned away from the scene as the man spluttered incoherent jumbles of words, stringing some together every now and then, only for them to be something about 'breaking and entering' (which really didn't apply anymore as the door was no longer broken) 'freaks, the lot of them' (to which Noah could only hope that the man was clinically insane and was talking about himself and his family) and 'deserved to die' (at this Noah _really_ hoped that the man was talking about his deceased parents or someone similar, as Hagrid was turning red with anger and even Dumbledore looked like he was about to break his wand in half).

"Lily and James Potter were the least selfish people I knew. They didn't jus' die, they died ter save the life of their son, 'Arry, who yer is keeping in a cupboard!" Hagrid yelled, and, it seemed that the walrus man backed down as he moved backwards to stand with his wife and son who had appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, mouth smeared with chocolate. "'Arry Potter! The boy who faced 'E-Who-Mus'-Not-Be-Named and lived ter tell the tale!" Unnoticed by the angry and scared adults and shaking blubber-boy, Noah moved around behind Hagrid to stand next to the cupboard. The very tips of fingers were poking out the grate as the boy inside the cupboard peered through the gaps in the gold-coloured metal. Noah moved over to it and brushed his fingers gently over the ones sticking out. The hands jumped and moved to pull away but Noah clamped down on one of the fingers and held it there. He crouched down and peered in to meet the startlingly green eyes of the cupboard's captive.

"Hi." He said, smiling gently at the boy. He could see the fear, confusion and excitement in the green orbs.

"Hello." The boy replied politely.

"I'm Noah, the one who was here before." The boy's eyes widened. "The people fighting with your relatives are Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid. Professor Dumbledore is the Headmaster of Hogwarts, the school that sent you all those letters. Hagrid is the groundskeeper, and is a half-giant."

"A what?" The boy asked incredulously. "A giant?"

"Half-giant." Noah corrected, "Isn't it amazing?" He asked, grinning, "All these magical creatures are out there! They've all survived." The boy just nodded unsurely.

"I'm Harry." He said as a late introduction. "Harry Potter." Noah smiled.

"Nice to meet you Harry. I've heard all about you. Every Wizarding child has." At Harry's frown, he asked. "I'm guessing you don't know the story?" At Harry's shake of the head he elaborated. "Well, there was this guy who was really evil, all these years ago, and for some reason, when you were a baby, he came round to your house to…to, well, to kill you. Your parents…they sacrificed their lives to save you. When the bad guy turned to kill you though, the spell didn't work and it somehow rebounded onto him and he was killed instead. That's why you have a scar; his spell left it there." Harry just stared at Noah, and he would have been thoroughly convinced that the black-haired boy had taken the news very calmly if he hadn't still been holding onto his fingers. They clenched slightly more around the grate in a manner that Noah was sure would be painful.

"Mamma!" [_Mama_] He called, and his mama swept over to her son immediately. Noah pointed to the locks as he turned his lilac gaze back to the green one in front of him. He smiled encouragingly at Harry as his mother flicked her wand at the padlocks, muttering Alohamora under her breath. One by one, they clicked open and fell off, until Noah stood up and let Harry push open the door to his freedom and his new life.

Without the barrier of glass, wood or metal between him and Harry, Noah could finally inspect the boy in front of him. He was short, taller than Noah, but not as tall as Fred and George had been in their first year (though that wasn't an accurate measurement to go by as it seemed to run in the Weasley family to be freakishly tall and gangly), his clothes looked several sizes too big, his arms were stick thin as they poked out the massive arm holes of the shirt he wore, his socks had holes in them, his glasses looked like they needed a good mend, his hair looked like a rat's nest, his eyes were big and so _green_ as he took in his surroundings and there was an angry-red coloured lightning bolt scar on his forehead, partly covered by his hair.

All in all the boy was small and needed some meat on him, perhaps a nice bath, but other than that he seemed like a perfectly awkward-looking –ten? eleven?– year old.

Staring at the scene in front of him; his Aunt, Uncle and Cousin seeming honestly terrified of the hairy man shouting at them, Harry found courage in the fact that these people were there to care for him, at least in a better manner than the Dursley's had if what the big hairy guy – Hagrid was it? – was saying could be trusted. Using this newfound courage, Harry spoke up properly for the first time since these strangers barged into his Aunt and Uncle's home.

"Is it true that my parents didn't die in a car crash?" Harry addressed the question to his relatives then turned to Hagrid once it became apparent that they weren't going to answer.

"A car crash? A _car crash_?" Hagrid shouted in disbelief, then turned on Harry's relatives again. Harry took that as a yes; his parents didn't die in a car crash.

"Harry, my dear boy." Harry looked up to meet the twinkling blue eyes of an old man with a long white-grey beard, and even longer white-grey hair. The man crouched down in front of him and gripped his shoulders. "How _are_ you?" He asked, almost forcefully, as he looked at the small boy in front of him.

"Honestly, I'm surprised sir." Harry replied, remembering to be polite and add 'sir' like Aunt Petunia had taught him. "I never expected anything like this to happen." The man chuckled and his eyes seemed to sparkle with more than just amusement; was he…crying?

"I am so sorry that you had to grow up like this, Harry." He apologised gravely. "I thought I had made it clear to your Aunt and Uncle that you were to be _cared for and looked after._" He said the last bit in a raised voice so that the people in question could hear him.

"It's alright, sir. I don't mind. It's all I've known, anyway. Besides, that's why you're here now, isn't it?" Harry asked hopefully. "To take me away from here?" The man chuckled, though it sounded thick, as if his throat was clogged.

"That we are, my boy, that we are." And with that he stood up and placed a calming hand on Hagrid's shoulder. "That will do, Hagrid. With Voldemort gone, Harry need never come back here. Good day to you, Petunia, Vernon." He nodded to the two. "We shall be taking Harry now, and, if we have our way, he shan't be coming back."

Noah linked his arm with Harry's as he had seen Fred do with George so often and gently pulled him away from the hallway with his mama, Hagrid and Dumbledore, Vernon Dursley's last words of 'good riddance! Don't ever bring him back here!' being shouted at their uninterested backs.

"Where am I going to go, now?" Harry asked, half timid, half scared as he viewed the neighbourhood beyond Mrs. Figg's house for the first time.

"You are going to live with me!" Noah said happily as he dragged his captive enthusiastically by the arm, down the road, round the corner, and outside number 9. "Every holiday, you can come home with me to mama and papa!"

"With you? Do you go to…to Hogwarts?" Harry asked, racking his brain for the right name of the school.

"Mm-mm." Noah shook his head in the negative. "I'm not a student there, but I live there during term time." He smiled up at Harry and Harry was struck by how good a condition his teeth were in for a…how old was he?

"You're not a student but you live there? How old are you? Are there other non-students living there as well?" Harry asked as he was pulled through a front door to a homely house, coloured in soft creams and whites with highlights of pale blues, floored in a light-coloured wood and carpeted in cream carpets. While the entire house looked picturesque and as if it belonged by a beach, there were touches that made it look lived in. A photo here, a child's painting there, a toy or two in the corner and some stains on the carpets that were faded but obviously impossible to remove.

"I'm a special case." Noah replied, "I'm the only one like me there, though I have friends who are students there! My magic was blocked until I was eight, so I had to move in to Hogwarts so it could be unblocked and I could be trained to control it to the normal standard of someone my age. I'm ten now. How old are you?" Harry nodded and acted like he had understood everything that was just said.

"I'm ten as well, but I'll be eleven in two weeks' time. 31st of July. I'm sorry if I sound rude, but I can't help but notice that you have an accent; where are you from?"

"Svalbard!" Noah answered cheerily, "Norway." He added. "Oh, and my birthday is the 24th of March. I'll be in the year below you." Harry nodded again as he was forced to sit down on a comfy floral sofa as Noah jumped onto it and pulled him as well.

"Um. So, what exactly just happened?" Harry asked as he looked around the room at the adults and Noah who were all smiling at him.

"You entered the Wizarding world, Harry." The smiling man with the twinkly blue eyes answered. "Albus Dumbledore." He introduced, holding out his hand. "Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Harry Potter." Harry replied alike as he took the hand proffered to him.

"Hagrid will take you to Diagon Alley to shop for your belongings in a fortnight's time." Dumbledore continued, "But for now, I think, you should have a nice relaxing bath while supper is prepared. I personally find that a lemon-scented bath is the most relaxing when bathing." Dumbledore smiled airily.

"He has a mild obsession with Lemon Drops." Noah leant over and whispered in Harry's ear. "He's a bit barmy at times, you get used to it." Harry nodded shakily as the weight of the situation finally rested on his shoulders. "I'll show you to the bathroom." Noah said aloud to the room, "Mama will cook a feast for us. She is an amazing chef!" Elisa smiled at this and took her leave, moving through to the kitchen where she turned the WWN on and started humming along to a jingle of an ad for self-sudsing washing up liquid.

"Hagrid will be back at 9 on the 31st, Noah." Dumbledore addressed the boy. "I shall see you early on the 1st, floo as usual." Noah nodded, waited for the adults to leave, and then took Harry by his hand and led him up the stairs to the bathroom.

Noah's papa had especially bought the bath for their bathroom, and the right charms to conceal it from Muggle eyes. The bathroom mainly consisted of a large rectangular tub, sunken into the floor like a swimming pool. The room had been magically stretched to be larger than life, and shrunk back down whenever someone non-magical entered the house. At one end of the tub was a huge set of taps, all letting out different coloured and scented water. Mikkel Isaksen had painstakingly labelled each and every tap as they were arranged in alphabetical order, and this bathroom was the one room that had followed them through all their moving. It was comforting to Noah to have something from his original home in the settlement in Svalbard, knowing now that said settlement had been burnt down.

Harry stared in awe at the massive bathroom, not even noticing the modest toilet and sink as they were overshadowed by the bathtub.

"You can choose whichever scents you want." Noah explained as he pulled Harry around the room by his hand. "My favourite is Lily of the Valley on its own, but you can combine them if you want. The water automatically froths, so if you don't want bubbles then you just have to step on this tile here and it'll come out like normal." Noah indicated with his foot a tile that was slightly raised and a different colour to the rest. "The towels are in the cupboard over there. Help yourself!" Noah pushed him in front of the wickerwork cupboard, smiled, then took his leave. Harry picked up an unbelievably fluffy towel and turned on the tap for Lily of the Valley, making sure not to step on the tile that switched it from bubbles to plain. Aunt Petunia had never allowed him to use the bubble bath he had gazed so longingly at, so now that he had a chance, he was going to seize it and use it to its full potential.

As he sank into the bubbly bath, sighing in relief as his sore muscles relaxed, he heard a knock on the door before it opened and Noah appeared again. Startled (and making sure that he was completely covered by bubbles in _every_ area of his body) Harry shrunk back further into the water. Not wanting to sound rude by demanding what the boy was doing here when it was the boy's house, he merely made a noise of shock and annoyance at being disturbed.

Seeing the question in the temporarily de-bespectacled boy's eyes, Noah said, "I've come to wash your hair for you. Mama always used to do it for me and it would relax me greatly. And," He softened his voice, "I doubt you can remember anyone ever doing it for you."

Finding it hard to become angry at the boy as he looked at him with large purple eyes, Harry just nodded mutely and shifted in the bath slightly so he could tip his head back. At the first touch of hands to his head though, he jumped and sat up, splashing Noah sitting behind him.

"Sorry." He apologised quickly, "I don't know what came over me." Noah just smiled at him and gestured for him to lie back down.

"You're going to have to trust me not to hurt you." Noah said gently as he tentatively touched Harry's head with even gentler hands. As the hands began to massage his shaggy hair into the water, Harry sighed in comfort.

"I trust you." He said, and for some reason he did. Perhaps it was because when the boy promised to get him out of the Dursley's he actually had, perhaps it was because he was the sole reason as to why he was free from them, but Harry trusted him. It was just so hard to believe that his menaces of relatives were in a house only a road away. This room seemed to be miles and miles away…

Noah smiled to himself as he felt Harry's head go heavy in his hands. Balancing it on one hand, he grabbed the shampoo with the other and squirted some on the top of Harry's head, before replacing it by the side and returning to his lathering. He heard a small sigh of contentment come from Harry's lips and smiled even wider. When he had thought he would see Harry Potter for the first time, he certainly hadn't expected what he was now literally holding in his hands, but he couldn't say he was deterred by the timid, polite boy he now knew. In fact, he had expected to meet someone arrogant, brought up to know his own worth in the Wizarding world, someone loud and boisterous, obnoxious and self-centred. He hadn't really been looking forwards to meeting the Boy-Who-Lived. But the person he had met was the complete opposite. Wary of upsetting people, undemanding and appreciative of whatever he received, polite and quiet around outsiders. Or maybe that was just around Dumbledore and Hagrid; they did have quite impressive presences, and Harry had seemed friendly enough with Noah for the short conversation they had held.

Frowning in annoyance as his glasses fogged up, Noah removed one hand and wiped it dry on his shirt, before plucking his specs from his face and laying them down by the shampoo. He was glad that it was evening and the sun was low in the sky, otherwise the sparkles from the magical bathroom would have been too bright for his eyes. Blinking a few times to adjust, Noah soon returned to washing the suds out of Harry's jet-black hair. As his gaze returned to the boy though, he felt his movements falter and coughed to cover up the jerk in his hands, playing it off as a reflex. The once-red scar now looked green to Noah, and rather than shimmering like the golden aura of magic that encased Harry, it swirled inwards in a hypnotic manner. Tearing his eyes away from the remnant of dark magic, Noah efficiently finished cleaning Harry's hair and lifted his head from the water when he was done, alerting the boy to the end of his task.

Harry opened his eyes, only to stare into upside-down purple ones that were close enough to his face to be focused. He smiled lazily, feeling relaxed and comfortable in the boy's gentle grip.

"Thank you." He said, his quiet words echoing in the magically enlarged bathroom. "That was very kind of you. All of this is very kind of you." Noah grinned at him in response.

"My mama is a very kind person. I have, in turn, been brought up to be kind as well. Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid and everyone else at Hogwarts are very kind also. You'll be finding yourself searching for someone mean before you know it." He paused. "I would recommend Professor Snape for that." He sneered in disdain at the name and Harry frowned. It marred Noah's otherwise pretty, and slightly effeminate, features when he sneered.

"Professor Snape is the exception to the kindness, I assume?" He asked. Noah nodded, his hair tickling Harry's face as he did so.

"He's grumpy and greasy. No one likes him, apart from maybe a few Slytherin's and Dumbledore."

"Slither ins?" Harry asked. Noah nodded again.

"One of the four houses at Hogwarts. You're sorted into your house by a talking hat. Gryffindor is for the brave, daring and chivalrous, Hufflepuff for the kind, honest and loyal, Ravenclaw for the smart and witty, in my opinion they're always workaholics, and Slytherin for the cunning. They tend to be prejudiced Pure-bloods, though there are some nice ones…just not many. Snape is their head of house."

"Ah." Was Harry's noise of recognition as his eyes drooped sleepily. "What's a Pure-blood?"

"Someone with only magical heritage. My mama and papa are both from Pure-blooded families, so I'm a Pure-blood, but I'm one of the nice ones! My friends Fred and George are also nice Pure-bloods. There aren't many of us around anymore as most of us are related to other Pure-bloods, meaning that we have to inbreed if we want to keep the blood pure. My mama and papa just met by chance though, they don't believe in blood status." Noah explained.

"So there are other types of blood?" Harry asked. "What am I?"

"You're a Half-blood." Noah replied. "That means that either one of your parents was a Muggle or Muggle-born. A Muggle is a non-magical person. As I said, Pure-bloods are dying out, so most of us have inter-married with Muggles and Muggle-borns. Magic is dominant in a child, so, so long as one parent is magical, the child will almost always be magical. In the instances that the child is non-magical, but at least one of the parents is, the child is classified as a Squib. The caretaker at school is a Squib, but he's a bit loopy and we're pretty sure he has anger problems."

"What's a Muggle-born?"

"Pretty much what it sounds like; a witch or wizard born to a Muggle couple. If the woman or man at your old house were your mother's sibling, then she would be the Muggle-born out of your parents. The same goes for if they were your father's sibling." Harry smiled at Noah's use of the word '_old_' and replied with the smile still on his face.

"Aunt Petunia was my mother's sister. So I guess that makes my father a Pure-blood and my mother a Muggle-born." Harry smiled wider at this knowledge. Knowing that his parents hadn't died in a drunken accident, but had died as brave people made him happy, it made him feel that he should stay alive for their sake as they died for his. From now on, he vowed to keep fighting for them.

"Come on, supper will be ready soon, and then we can go to bed. You must have had an emotionally draining day." Harry nodded and sat up as Noah left to give him some privacy. "I've left some of my clothes by the door for you!" He called through the shut door. Harry smiled and called out his thanks as he wrapped himself in one of the impossibly fluffy towels. If today was anything to go by, the rest of his life should hopefully be as peaceful and calm as it was now. For the first time in his life, Harry felt ready to face his future.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Harry awoke two weeks later, alert and ready for shopping. He was slightly worried about the fact that he had no money to buy anything with, but when he had voiced his fears to Noah, Noah had smiled and waved it off saying he had had the same problem when he bought his wand, and the solution had arisen by itself just fine. He untangled himself from the sprawled out limbs of the boy he had bed-shared with, and dressed in the clothes Noah had lent him for the day. He was out of the bedroom by 8, had eaten breakfast by 8.40, had brushed his teeth with a transfigured toothbrush by 8.45, and was sitting nervously on a floral sofa, awaiting the arrival of Hagrid by 8.50. When the half-giant arrived, Harry was whisked away through the Floo network for the first time, and arrived in a pub where he was introduced to a teacher starting at Hogwarts that year. Hagrid then tapped the bricks on a wall outside the pub and the bricks then moved to create an entrance to the Wizarding shopping area in London. Diagon Alley.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Noah was reading a Care of Magical Creature's text book when Harry and Hagrid flooed back into the living room of number 9 Picket Lane. Noah invited the man in for tea, but Hagrid refused saying that he had an important package to deliver to Dumbledore. Shrugging it off as something unimportant to him, Noah asked Harry how the shopping had gone, though he could see how well it went from the extent of luggage that had followed him through the fire. And the owl. Always a dead giveaway, that.

"It was good, thank you." Harry smiled as he tentatively stuck a finger through the cage of his owl. "You were right when you said the money situation would solve itself." Noah wanted to ask more, but held his tongue when the words of his mama floated through his head;

_"The three things that you don't discuss in polite company are money, politics and religion."_

"Did you get everything that you wanted then?" Noah asked instead. Harry smiled happily as his owl nipped gently at his fingertip.

"Yeah." He replied slightly dreamily, "The Wizarding world is amazing, isn't it?" Noah grinned and nodded.

"It is, isn't it? I went through pretty much all you're going through when I was eight, because mama and papa brought me up like a Muggle because my magic was blocked." Harry hummed in response, but still stared at his owl. "What's its name?" Noah asked, realising that he clearly wasn't getting Harry's attention.

"Hedwig. She's called Hedwig." Harry replied, smiling again. "Sorry it's just, I've never had a pet before. Dudley had a hamster a few years ago but I think he sat on it…or maybe he ate it. I'm not sure. But I've always wanted a pet." As Hedwig grumpily turned her back on Harry's probing finger and ruffled her feathers haughtily, Harry sighed and retracted his wiggling digit. He came over and sat next to Noah on the floral sofa. "So what was wrong with your magic?" He asked, "If you don't mind me asking."

Noah grinned at the worried expression on his face and replied, "Don't worry, I don't mind. The first time I was asked I was asked in a much ruder manner than yours." He smiled wider at the thought of his redheaded friends. He had missed them this summer. "According to Dumbledore, I am a Magical Reincarnation." Noah paused to let that sink in then continued, "The spirit of Noah from the Great Flood thousands of years ago was, essentially, reborn into me. I was born only once the last person who was associated with or related to Noah died. My magic was blocked because of the guilt that the first Noah felt when he thought that he hadn't saved magical creatures. Turned out they saved themselves, and then poof! I could use my magic." Noah beamed at Harry. Harry looked slightly perplexed, but for his credit he smiled and nodded in response.

"That's why you were so happy when you were telling me that Hagrid was a half-giant." Harry added in realisation. Noah nodded back and beamed.

"It's wonderful when everything you believed was true is proved wrong in a good way."

"Yeah." Harry agreed, "Yeah, it is."

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

**Chapter End.**

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><p><strong>AN:** **Update to follow when I've retyped it/recovered the lost files.**


	8. The Philosopher's Stone II

**A/N: Look at me! Updating twice a month! Praise me, praise me! Or just leave a review saying where you want the story to go. (Obviously it has to follow the pattern of the First book, but the side stories are for you to discuss with me). Welcome to Hogwarts, Harry!**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

Harry's final evening with the Isaksen's was pleasant. The majority of the time was spent with Noah and his books. Harry liked Noah, he was friendly, bubbly, and kind, and the boy had already advised him on who to be respectful towards and who the "goodies" and "baddies" are. Snape was on the 'never touch with a fifty foot pole unless the end is laced with poison' list and Noah's friends Fred and George were on the 'become friends with but watch your back around' list. Apparently they were pranksters. Harry had also had a lovely birthday with the Isaksens in the afternoon, after his shopping trip with Hagrid. They had made him a cake and thrown a little party for him, though they regretted their lack of presents. Harry had assured them that he hadn't been expecting anything, which only seemed to upset them further. Harry had made sure to let them know that their kindness was beyond belief and that he appreciated everything they were doing for him to the highest extent. That had cheered them up slightly and the rest of the day had passed without a hitch.

On the day that the Hogwarts Express was due to leave, September 1st, Noah left early in the morning to help prepare for the students. He longed to get on the train and travel into the castle in a manner other than floo, but Dumbledore had told him that if he waited then the surprise would be even greater in his first year. So, it was with a slightly lighter heart that Noah left Harry looking a bit peaky in his living room.

"Don't worry. You will be fine, mama and papa will take you to the station and make sure you arrive there safely. Then all you have to do is find the platform and sit on the train until you get to Hogwarts. It's really a lot simpler than you think it is." Noah had said smiling, then stepped into the fire, called out 'Dumbledore's Office, Hogwarts!' and arrived on the plush carpet to be greeted by the smiling face of his surrogate grandfather.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Harry had been feeling a bit nauseous, but confident until Mr. and Mrs. Isaksen arrived at King's Cross Station in their car. They hadn't a clue as to where the platform was. Noah had always flooed in, so they had had no cause to visit the station before. They sent him apologetic looks as they unpacked his things from the car, but still had to leave him alone due to other appointments. And so Harry stood alone on the platform with his trunk and owl, with everyone giving him shifty glances as they passed him. He made his way to platform 9, hoping against hope that there may just be one labelled 9¾, but of course. There wasn't. The trainmaster was most unhelpful.

"It's the same year after year." Harry heard a woman say as she walked past with a crew of redheads following her. "Always packed with Muggles, of course." At the mention of the word 'Muggle', Harry looked up and discreetly followed her. He watched as a boy ran at a brick wall between the signs '9' and '10' and…disappeared through it. Filled with confidence again Harry tentatively called out to the family.

"Excuse me!"

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Noah sat at the Head Table eagerly awaiting this year's sorting. He was almost excited as he had been the year of Fred and George's sorting. Almost. The decorations had been put up earlier than last year and the years before, so when the elf screeched that the students had arrived, the teachers were prepared and immediately took their seats and composed themselves. Noah, however, couldn't stop bouncing up and down in his seat. When he saw Fred and George enter he waved manically at them. The first thing they did as they walked through the doors was look forwards to the Head Table and they grinned widely and waved back at the hyperactive ten year old.

When all the returning students were seated, the doors opened once more to admit Minnie and the first years. As they entered Noah frowned when he saw a blonde boy with a pretty but pinched face push past Harry angrily to be nearer the front of the line. Harry himself looked a bit annoyed, and he turned to complain to a redheaded boy standing next to them. Noah saw the boy snort with laughter then look to the Gryffindor table where Fred and George beamed at them. Percy just nodded stiffly.

_""…But in two years time…"_

_"…our younger brother…"_

_"…ickle Ronnikins…"_

_"…is going to join too…""_

'_So that must be Ron Weasley_!' Noah, pleased with his deduction, smiled to himself and continued to smile when Harry looked up and saw him, after inspecting the rest of the Hall he had just entered. McGonagall got out her list and began from the top. When she reached "Hermione Granger" a bushy haired girl muttered something to herself then moved to sit on the stool. Noah saw Ron lean close to Harry and mumble something to him, to which Harry grinned and rolled his eyes. The girl was placed in Gryffindor. Eventually, the nasty blonde boy that Noah instantly disliked due to his rough treatment of Harry whom he already considered a close friend of his, was called up. The hat barely touched his head before it shouted out 'Slytherin!'. Ron again mumbled something to Harry, who paled before Ron was called up and placed in Gryffindor.

Soon enough it was Harry's turn. The entire Hall went quiet at the mention of his name, before everyone started whispering. As Harry sat down on the stool, the room was silent again.

Noah held his breath at the hat seemed to have a conversation with Harry. After a few minutes of silence it roared out 'Gryffindor!' Fred and George leapt up and started to chant as they cheered. Hufflepuff clapped politely, as did Ravenclaw, but some of the looks in Slytherin were purely murderous. McGonagall called for quiet and Dumbledore introduced the feast. Noah stood up and introduced himself, and Fred, George and Harry all clapped loudly as he sat down again.

Once the feast was over, Dumbledore stood up again. He told the Hall that the 3rd floor corridor on the right was out of bounds. At the mention of a painful death Noah saw Harry pale considerably. Noah winced in sympathy, but internally frowned at that piece of news. There had never been anywhere out of bounds before, apart from the Forest of course. Before he could ponder on it though, Dumbledore had dismissed them and ordered the Prefects to take the first years to the common room. Noah looked at Dumbledore quizzically as he sat down but the old man just shook his head seriously at him, a grave expression on his face. Noah knew that this was one argument that his puppy-dog eyes would not win him. He sighed and hopped off his raised chair to go and join Fred and George who were already teasing their little brother.

"F! G!" Noah called out and the two turned to him with identical grins on their faces.

"N!" They replied in unison and laughed as Noah threw himself at them, catching one half of his body each and rearranging him until they were carrying him like a princess.

"It's good to see you in such high spirits, Fred." Noah commented, "Much better than last year." Fred blushed slightly and pinched Noah on the leg.

"Yeah, you can guess who he saw this summer." George added from his place near Noah's head. "You could hear the moans all the way to London." He whispered in Noah's ear. The boy blushed bright red and spluttered a bit. Fred looked horrified.

"You said you wouldn't tell anyone!" He cried out mortified. Noah actually began to cough at this, which forced the twins to put him down.

"It's _true_?" He hacked out.

"He wasn't sure if he'd be able to make it back for Christmas so…" Fred mumbled, still blushing to the tips of his ears.

"Um, sorry, but who are you?" Noah looked from the blushing Fred to meet a shoulder in his face. He growled under his breath, were _all_Weasley's tall? His gaze travelled up until he met the freckly face of none other than Ron Weasley.

"This is Noah, ickle Ronnikins…"

"…we _did_tell you about him…"

"…but you might have been too busy running…"

"…to actually take in anything we said…"

"…Which normally would be understandable…"

"…but really wasn't necessary in this case…"

"…because we wouldn't have _really_done it…"

"…we just wanted to know how a gnome would react _if_…"

"…we put one down someone's pants, but we…"

"…were only _teasing_you…"

"Maybe." The twins were smirking evilly and Noah watched as the colour drained from Ron's face. Noah shoved an elbow in both of their sides and ignored the cries of outrage.

"I'm Noah Isaksen, a friend of your brothers and a semi-proud member of the Troublesome Trio. I'm really more of a sidekick though. One that they seem to feel _free to torture for their own amusement_." Noah said the last bit while glaring at the twins.

"Now that's unfair!"

"Unjust!"

"Unfounded!"

"We don't torture you!"

"Oh? Have you conveniently forgotten the instance last year with the _tree_?" Noah asked. The two exchanged glances then backed down.

"We're sorry oh, master…"

"…oh divine ruler…"

"…oh God of heavens above…"

"…oh tamer of all things evil…"

"…oh righteous leader of all that is good…"

"Ron Weasley." Ron interrupted the twins, sticking out his hand for Noah to shake. "I have to have some respect for you if you've managed to put up with these two for two years." Noah smiled and accepted the hand graciously.

"Says the one who has put up with them for eleven." Ron blushed a bit and shuffled his feet.

"Well, yeah, but you get used to them after a while, I guess." Noah just smiled and turned to Harry.

"Congratulations on getting into Gryffindor, Harry." Harry grinned at him happily.

"I wouldn't have minded where, so long as it wasn't Slytherin." He replied modestly. "But I'm glad it was Gryffindor."

"I think it suits you." Noah complimented, smiling wider when Harry blushed. They reached the base of Gryffindor Tower and Noah looked to the twins who were still rambling off lists.

"…oh wonderful, magical, all powerful and mighty, gracious and forgiving, humble and accepting saviour of our souls…"

"Am I coming to yours tonight or are you coming to mine?" Noah asked, nibbling his bottom lip when he realised that he didn't know the password for the Gryffindor Common Room.

"We'll come to yours." The twins said in unison. "We can tell you the password then." Noah sighed and smiled in relief, then turned to the two first years.

"You two are welcome at any time as well. If you choose to join us tonight then you'll hopefully learn the way so you can make it on your own if you ever want to come later." Ron and Harry looked a bit confused, but nodded and gave their thanks before running to catch up with the other first years being led away by Percy. As Noah turned to go to his room he heard George say to Fred under his breath,

"I _told_you Percy would be a Prefect in his fifth year." Grinning to himself and glad to be back, Noah walked the rest of the short journey to his rooms, the fact that this would be his last year to go to these rooms after the Welcoming Feast not going unnoticed by him.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Barely twenty minutes after curfew there was a faint knock on the door; one short one followed by two longer ones; the Muggle Morse code for the letter 'W', and Noah leapt up to answer it quickly before the twins got caught. As he opened the door, however, he was greeted with not two, but _four_smiling faces.

"Harry! Ron!" He exclaimed happily, ushering the group inside. "Breaking the rules already, and it's only your first day." He teased as he shut the door behind him.

"Yeah, well, you grow up with these two..." Ron trailed off, gesturing to the twins. Noah laughed and turned to Harry as Fred and George made themselves comfy in the now-well known surroundings.

"How was your first evening as a Gryffindor?" He asked, smiling encouragingly when Harry looked a little bit nervous at answering.

"Truthfully? More than a bit terrifying." Harry replied, laughing nervously and rubbing the back of his neck. "Everyone kept staring at me and asking to sign things for them. I don't even have a signature!" He huffed, receiving a clap on the shoulder from Ron for his tribulations.

"Never mind mate, they'll get used to it." He comforted gruffly. "And even if they don't, you will."

"Thanks, Ron." Harry muttered, not looking any happier.

"He's right though." Noah added, "They _will_get used to it; you'll soon be Harry rather than Harry Potter. With You-Know-Who gone, the story'll die out, the novelty will wear off," He shrugged, "They'll get over it." Harry smiled gratefully as Ron wondered off to where his older brothers were unpacking a secret stash of sweets.

"Thanks, Noah." Harry said in a low voice so Ron wouldn't overhear and get offended, "You always know just what to say." Noah grinned back at the raven-haired boy,

"That or you always get yourself into just the right problems for me to advise you about." Harry laughed and the pair joined the red-heads; the taller of which teasing the smaller about a female first year called 'Hermione Granger.'

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

Noah was just as excited as he was upset about the new term officially starting. After the first week it had become apparent that he had reached the (mature) age that meant that exploring held little excitement for him any more. With all four of his friends in classes all day, along with all the teachers, this left Noah more than a little bit lonely; finding companionship in the ghosts and Ron's rat, Scabbers, that always seemed to look at him in a slightly shifty manner. He practised his spells from his little black book daily, and was proud when Harry came to his rooms one evening, depressed about how far behind in magic and general knowledge he seemed to be in comparison to the rest of his year.

One girl especially seemed to grate on Ron's nerves and, by association, Harry's. Harry appeared in his quarters every single day, sometimes with Ron, sometimes with the twins, but mostly alone. He would stay until it was either time for him to go to bed in Gryffindor, or until the others arrived and Noah and he wouldn't be alone any longer. Each time he visited it seemed he had a whole other new "hot topic" to talk about. It was on one such afternoon that Harry knocked on his door with four short raps (Muggle Morse code for 'H'), and then let himself in at Noah's call.

"I don't _believe_ her!" He cried out the moment the door shut behind him. Noah calmly shut the book he was reading and put it aside after marking his place. "I don't believe _him_! They're both just so incredibly childish!" Harry slumped over to the bed where Noah was sitting and grabbed the younger boy, pulling him into his person and running his fingers through his hair. This was a calming technique that the pair had discovered worked on soothing Harry when Hedwig wasn't in the vicinity to pet instead.

"What have they done now?" Noah asked, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice.

"They haven't _done_anything!" Harry moaned in frustration. Noah blinked. Well, that was new.

"So...what's wrong, then?" he asked tentatively, acutely aware that Harry's fingers were entangled in his hair, very close to his scalp, and were at complete liberty to tug painfully if he saw a reason to do so. Not that he would; Harry was a gentle soul really, but Noah wasn't going to count his dragons before they hatched.

"She's just being herself, he's just being himself, it's just that, by being themselves, they can't seem to stand each other!" Harry seemed to slump even further at this. "She'll answer a question, and yes it'll be annoying, but then Ron will complain loudly with his big mouth and she'll hear and get upset. He's constantly complaining about her, day in, day out, and I never hear the end of it from all the girls as well! If they're not asking for a signature that I _still_haven't created, then they're asking how I can be so insensitive as to allow what's happening to continue! It's as if I'm actively joining in!" He paused to take breath. "Everything just seems to be going wrong these past few days." Noah frowned at that; as far as he knew Snape had just been being unnaturally cruel to the boy, Draco Malfoy (the pointy-faced blonde boy from the Welcoming Feast) had been a prat and Hermione Granger and Ron had been getting on his nerves.

"How bad?" Noah asked, looking up into Harry's face; lilac bespectacled gaze meeting emerald bespectacled gaze. Harry drew one hand over his face in exhaustion.

"As in so bad that Snape has already set me a detention for not knowing the right answers to his questions and being too 'arrogant'. The only good thing that's happened to me all week was flying lessons today." Harry said the last part cheerily.

Pushing away his anger at Snape, Noah asked, "Went well did it?" He had to admit that he was jealous that Harry could fly well, as he most certainly couldn't, but he was happy for his friend and glad that something was there to brighten up his week. Harry looked down at him with a mischievous glint in his eye and bent down to reply in a lowered voice.

"Okay, so I haven't told _anyone_this yet, but Malfoy was being a twat and challenged me to a chase when he stole Neville Longbottom's rememberall after he hurt his wrist. Madame Hooch had left, so I got on my broom and flew after him. He ended up just chucking the thing into the air to fall and smash until I dove after it and caught it inches to the ground before pulling up." He was beaming at this point, "It was so exhilarating! Only problem was, McGonagall caught me and I thought I was going to get expelled or something, but instead she took me to see Oliver Wood and told me that I'm going to be Gryffindor's Seeker for Quidditch!" Noah yelled out in amazement and leapt up, straight into the first year's lap, hugging him and bouncing up and down in excitement.

"That's _amazing_, Harry!" He cried, "First years are _never_picked for the teams; it's a school rule!" Harry was beaming from ear to ear, but still managed to warn the bouncing boy that it was a secret and that he was planning on only telling Ron and him.

"I can't wait to tell Ron." He said happily, "I can deal with Snape and Malfoy so long as I have Ron and Quidditch." He paused and pulled back a little bit to look at the ten-year-old in his lap. "And you, of course. I couldn't have done _any_of this without you, Noah." Noah just smiled softly and nuzzled his head into Harry's neck to hide his blush. Harry was a really sincere person; when he said something, he meant it; and everything from his eyes to his smile showed his seriousness in his compliments. Noah smiled and cuddled closer to Harry, smiling as the boy laughed, surprised, as they fell backwards onto the bed. The ten-year-old began to feel sleepy as he lay on top of Harry, completely comfortable, and reminiscent of doing the same with his father, years and years ago.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

That evening, Noah watched warily as Draco Malfoy and his two cronies, made their way over to Gryffindor table after Ron had glomped Harry at his good news. The moment the redhead caught sight of Malfoy, he became visibly enraged as his face turned as red as his hair, and it took Fred's placating hand on his shoulder to keep him in his seat. The blonde reached Harry, Ron and the twins, and sneered at him. Noah obviously couldn't hear about what; over the din of the Hall it was hard to hear yourself _think_, let alone listening in on other's conversations. Harry, Ron and Hermione _did_hear, however, and as soon as Harry had nodded at something and Malfoy had stalked away, Hermione eagerly set into the pair about whatever it was. Noah noted that a slightly chubby dirty-blonde haired boy was also listening in, next to Hermione, and made a mental memo to talk to one of his friends about it when he snuck into Gryffindor that night.

He looked up to see that Professor Dumbledore was watching the scene as well, frowning ever so slightly as Malfoy walked out the doors to the Hall.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir." Noah tugged on the old man's robes slightly. "Do you think there is there something wrong?" Dumbledore sighed tiredly.

"I don't think that any real harm can come to either of them, but I am worried for both, yes. Harry Potter is incredibly strong, and can't quite control his magic yet, whereas Draco Malfoy...as much as I hate to judge on past events...he may not have been brought up in the most _objective_of ways." Dumbledore stared down over his spectacles in a meaningful look to Noah. The boy gasped as realisation struck, before quickly shutting his mouth and nodding furiously.

"I shall help, Professor." He declared. "I can find out what's happening and help!" At this, Dumbledore chuckled and petted Noah's head.

"That is very brave of you, Noah, and I have no doubt that you are able to take them both on if the need should arise-" Noah pouted as he realised that the old coot was teasing him, "But I think, for this time at least, we should allow things to play out as they shall. Neither know enough magic to do more than shoot sparks at one another, and I highly doubt that Mr. Malfoy would lower himself to the level of a physical fight." Dumbledore sighed again and picked up his spoon to continue eating pudding. "We are mere observers, Noah. There is nothing more we can do."

"_Well."_ The boy thought, "_I am no mere observer. I'm Harry's friend! If this...this _blondie_is bothering him, then I'll help him! It's what friends do!"_

"Of course, Professor." Noah said outwardly, "Though I may try talking to him, to see if that should help."

"I think that might be a good idea." Dumbledore smiled down at him, then stood as the remainder of the food vanished itself from the tables, concluding the meal with a wish for a good night and a swish of his robes.

As everyone began to file out of the Hall, Noah jumped down from his chair at the Head Table, proud that his eye-line was just above the top of the table now, and ran down to where Harry, Ron, Fred and George were waiting for him.

"Hey N!" George called, waving him over and then linking arms with him as Noah smiled indulgently at his oldest friends.

"Hey F, G." Noah smiled back. No matter how often they saw each other, Noah was always just as enthusiastic to see his friends again as if he hadn't seen them in months. These were the only real friends he'd made and the only ones that had stuck by him for so long. "Harry," Noah began, turning his smiling face into a frown as he looked at the black-haired boy, "What did Draco Malfoy want?" he asked. Harry looked around at the company nervously before deciding that any unwanted eavesdroppers were out of listening range. Sighing, Harry tugged one of Noah's arms free from the twins' grasp and clutched it instead.

"He challenged me to a Wizard's duel. Tonight." He moaned. Noah, though shocked, patted his back comfortingly.

"I'm guessing you accepted?" He asked, already knowing the answer. Harry's defeated nod was his reply.

"What am I supposed to do? I don't know _any_ magic, _at all_. I can't fight him!" Noah murmured something about Gryffindor pride as he opened the door to his quarters and lead the merry band inside.

"Well, Dumbledore said that he doesn't think that you two could do more than shoot sparks at one another." Noah supplied helpfully. "We both saw Malfoy talk to you." He added at Harry's horrified look. Harry groaned,

"So now Professor Dumbledore knows that something is going to happen."

"Well, yes, but he's not going to do anything. He thinks that we should just sit back and watch, be "_mere observers_"." Noah huffed, crossing his arms. "Like that's going to happen. I'm coming with you." Harry's eyes widened and he looked alarmed.

"I really don't know if that's a-"

"Oh do be quiet, Harry. I'm coming with you."

"But it could be dang-"

"_Shooting sparks_. Does that mean nothing to you?" Noah ground out, glaring up at the boy. "How could that _possibly_be dangerous?"

"Me too, mate." Ron piped in. "I'm not missing out on this."

"Can we-"

"No!" Harry cried out, interrupting the twins. "None of you can come! What if Malfoy knows more magic than me? It _could_be dangerous! I'm not involving anyone who wasn't invited."

"But Harry! We know more spells than anyone here!" George complained.

"Really! It would be in your best interest..."

"...to take us! We'd be so much more..."

"...helpful than ickle Ronnikins here..."

"...even N's extensive spell repertoire..."

"...doesn't hold as much as ours..."

"...it makes sense!"

"Aren't you prats forgetting something?" Ron glared at them, tapping his old and slightly cracked wrist watch. "You've got detention with Flitwick. Tonight. In ten minutes." The twins exchanged shocked glances then stood up from where they'd been sitting on the bed.

"Gotta fly!"

"See you later, Harry..."

"...Noah, Ronnikins..."

"...good luck with Malfoy..."

"...try not to get yourself killed..."

"...ta ta!" And with that, the two swept out the room like an orange hurricane.

"Right. Now that those two are gone," Noah began as the door slammed shut, "What time are we leaving?" Harry shot him an unconvincing glare.

"I just told you-" He began.

"And we just told you that we're coming." Noah cut him off. He looked to Ron for confirmation.

"He's right, Harry. You're not getting rid of us." The boy in question glared at his two friends for a few more seconds before sighing and dropping his head into his hands.

"You guys are worse than the twins." He groaned whilst Ron and Noah grinned evilly at one another.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

"Stop touching me!" Ron hissed at the bushy haired girl as all five of them stumbled along the corridors towards the Trophy room; huddled in a group to be as inconspicuous as possible. "That counts as touching!" He hissed again as Hermione Granger's elbow knocked lightly into his side.

"Oh for Heaven's sake, Ronald!" Hermione spat back, "Stop being such a girl about it!"

"Don't call me Ronald!" He whispered, flushing pink at the insult. "And I'm not being a girl, _you_ just keep _touching me_!"

"Ouch!" Neville Longbottom cried out as he stubbed his toe whilst turning a corner. His yell echoed down the corridor and made the entire group stop for a few seconds and listen. As the echo died out and silence reigned once again, they all sighed, relieved.

"Are you alright Neville?" Harry asked kindly, "We haven't got far left to go."

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Neville mumbled, embarrassed. "My back's still hurting from falling asleep outside the portrait hole, makes me sort of uncoordinated."

"You're uncoordinated enough as it is." Ron murmured.

"Don't be so rude, Ronald!" Hermione hissed at him.

"I just told you not to call me that, and _stop touching me!_" He hissed back, face steadily going redder and redder.

"Shh!" Harry whispered.

"We're here." Noah added, exploring the softly glinting Trophy Room, inspecting certain plaques as Ron cautiously did the same. "Hey, Harry." Ron called as one name caught his eye. Harry wandered over and squinted at the silver plate Noah and Ron were looking at. "I didn't know your father was a Chaser for Gryffindor." He said.

"Neither did I." Replied Harry, in awe at the intricate carving of '_James Potter'_ on the silver. Seeing it just made everything so real all of a sudden. His father had gone to this school, probably stood exactly where Harry was now, looking at his engraved name, proud of his achievement. He felt a lump rise in his throat, and tried to swallow around it. His father. His _dad_. He had been _real_. He stood there, staring at his Dad's name for minutes on end, forgetting Malfoy completely. His friends remained silent in respect for him, until a voice broke it.

"Blasted rounds, searching for little children breaking rules, pranksters, rebels, idiots; all think that they can escape Filch, but no sir, no sir-ee, I'll get them all, won't I Mrs. Norris?" All five children froze and exchanged worried glances, before Ron let out a muffled cry of,

"Run!"

And so they did. They pelted through the corridors, no longer worried about being heard as Neville crashed into a suit of armor. They could hear Filch a few corridors behind them, and sighed in relief as the staircase they had just travelled up changed directions immediately after they jumped from the end. Scurrying into the corridor they had just entered, they tried to open the only door that they could see.

"It's locked!" Harry cried out.

"Let me-"

"_Alohamora!"_Noah hissed hurriedly, not even caring that he had interrupted Hermione. They rushed inside and slammed the door shut behind them, panting heavily as they pressed their ears against the wood, trying to see if Filch had managed to reach them.

"Harry." Neville whispered as he tugged on the boy's pyjama shirt.

"Not now, Neville." Harry whispered back.

"But, _Harry_!" Neville whimpered slightly more loudly.

"I said not now!" Harry replied, still not looking up from where he was staring at the gap under the door; waiting for a light to pass and indicate their discovery.

"Harry." Noah breathed. "Honestly, _look_."

"What is it?" He snapped as he spun around to see what Neville and Noah were looking at. He felt the blood drain from his face as his gaze was met by that of a _massive_ dog, a dog with _three-heads_!

"Bloody hell." Ron whispered. The dog narrowed its eyes and started to growl at the children, baring its large teeth and rivers of drool. There was suddenly a scrabble as all five of them dove for the door-handle and leaped out the room, just as the dog started to bark. They turned tail and ran again, heading straight for Gryffindor Tower. After negotiating with a very grumpy Fat Lady, during which Noah played a large role, they all fell onto the plush red carpets of the Gryffindor Common Room.

Hermione was the first to recover and sat up seconds before Harry, Ron and Noah did. Neville, still collapsed on the floor, was panting hard and looking a bit green around the edges.

"What _was_that?" Noah asked, half excited about seeing the creature, and half terrified of the damage it could have caused them.

"A dog." Harry answered simply.

"Got that much, mate." Ron added breathlessly.

"I-it...it was h-_huge_." Neville stuttered from the floor.

"Honestly! Were none of you paying attention _at all_?" Hermione snapped, looking like she was almost on the verge of a breakdown from stress and lack of sleep.

"Paying attention to _what_? The giant _three headed dog that wanted to eat us?_" Ron snapped back, angrily.

"Didn't anyone wonder _why_it was there? It was standing on a trap door!" She hissed.

"Well excuse me for being _too distracted_ by its _three heads_to look at it's feet!" Ron growled at her.

"Wait." Harry held up a hand for silence. "So you think it was guarding something?" He turned to Hermione, who nodded curtly, sending a smug look towards the angered redhead, who visibly bristled.

"Come on, Harry, you can't honestly be believing _her_!" Ron moaned.

"Well her track-record does call for some trust in her facts." Noah added, also turning to the bushy haired girl. "So the question is _what_it's hiding." Hermione nodded before biting her lip nervously.

"But it's not any of our business." She added. "That was the _forbidden_room. It's obviously highly secretive and dangerous, otherwise Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have warded it off with a giant dog."

"Well you can't just expect us to accept that there's something worth guarding and then tell us that we can't do anything about it!" Ron cried out as Hermione stood. "I say let's investigate!"

"It's too dangerous!" Hermione shot back, "We could all have been killed tonight- or worse, expelled. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." And with that she huffed, turned on her heel, and stalked up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

"She needs to get her priorities straight. Nuts, she is." Ron muttered as she left. Harry sighed wearily, coming down from his adrenaline high and feeling the exhaustion sink into his bones.

"Bed sounds like a good idea." Neville murmured, still lying on his back.

"Hm." Harry agreed. "You sleeping with us, Noah?" He asked, turning just in time to see the ten-year-old stifle a yawn. The boy nodded sleepily and stood, latching onto Harry and Ron's hands as they led him upstairs, Neville behind them.

They snuck up silently, sneaking past the drawn beds of Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, Neville falling onto his bed and snoring the moment his head hit the pillow, Ron doing much the same, his long limbs spread out at all angles.

"Guess you're stuck with me, huh?" Noah said as Harry pulled back the covers to his four-poster.

"Ron would've kicked you anyway." Harry replied, slipping in under the duvet. "And I don't mind." He added, tugging Noah down next to him and smiling as the small boy wriggled and wormed his way into his arms to snuggle up against his chest. "You're like the brother I never had."

"Thank you." Noah said quietly. "You're the brother I never had as well." Harry grinned at this before yawning.

"Sleep." He said.

"Sleep." Noah agreed.

And they did.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

**Chapter End.**

* * *

><p><strong><span>AN: And there's another update done! I really need to start concentrating on exams that are in a fortnight, but I can't bring myself to when I'm in such an author-y mood. I have most of the rest of this book planned out, but it's becoming trickier and trickier to make it all work the closer to the Stone the kids get. I'm giving you all a heads up now - if any of you are planning on sticking with me until I get to the Fourth or Fifth book, I'll be doing a massive plot change somewhere around then. Writing your own character into a storyline is a lot harder than I thought it would be, and I'd rather Voldemort was dead and gone before Harry's seventh year and preferably before his sixth. Sigh. Anyway, stay tuned for another update in the semi-forseeable future.**


	9. The Philosopher's Stone III

**Chapter 8**

"Perhaps it's some important Hogwarts heirloom, or something?" Ron suggested as he, Harry and Noah made their way down to breakfast the next morning.

"No," Noah contradicted, "It would have been here since before I came. I still think it's some rare magical object."

"Yeah, I think Noah's right. If it was an heirloom surely it would be stored somewhere else, and it would have been here for years and years." Harry agreed. "It can't be anything alive, because then that would mean someone had to get past that dog every single time they went to feed or water it. That means it has to be an object, and it's hardly going to be a Muggle television, so it's magical. And obviously it's rare and important if it's got that much security on it." He reasoned, Noah and Ron nodding along thoughtfully with everything he said.

"But how are we meant to go about finding out what it is?" Ron asked. "It's not like we can just waltz up to the dog and ask it."

"Maybe we should ask Hagrid?" Harry suggested. "He's the magical creatures expert. He must have had some say in putting the dog there, maybe he'd have a clue as to what it was guarding."

"Hmm." Noah nodded along as they entered the Great Hall. "I'll see you two later, right?" he asked as they travelled down the rows of students.

"'Course." Ron replied gruffly.

"See you." Harry smiled as the two of them sat down and Noah continued walking up to his place at the Head Table.

"Good morning, Noah." Dumbledore greeted him as he jumped up into his raised seat with a grunt, catching Uncle Filius' sympathetic glance.

"Good morning, Professor." Noah responded, smiling happily as his coco pops appeared at just the right sogginess for his liking; it beat having to shovel your own food onto your plate and wait like the rest of the students had to. The Head Table had _privileges_. Dumbledore's eyes sparkled slightly as he looked down at the small boy.

"Did you _discover_ anything, Noah?" He asked meaningfully.

"Mmm." Noah nodded, chewing thoughtfully on his cereal. It probably wouldn't be wise to mention the dog to the Headmaster. He swallowed. "Malfoy challenged him to a Wizard's duel." he said carefully, omitting the part where four students and a young boy were out after hours.

"Ah. So _that_ was what Argus heard." Dumbledore replied, nodding sagely. "I trust that you joined Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss. Granger and Mr. Longbottom on their adventure?" He asked, his eyes twinkling madly. Noah gaped. How did he _do_ that? Eyes wary, he nodded unsurely. Dumbledore chuckled. "Worse has happened at Hogwarts than being out of bed past curfew, Noah. Never fear, I can keep a secret." The old man winked, and turned back to his porridge, taking a mouthful. "Hm." He hummed, "I never did care much for the texture of porridge." Noah just stared before going back to his cereal, eying Gryffindor table carefully. He was going to have to tell them that the Headmaster knew. That was _not_ a conversation he was looking forward to.

As he scanned the long table for his friends, Noah noticed Hedwig swoop down to Harry with a long and thin package in her claws. From the shape, it was quite obvious what it was, but Noah still heard many exclamations of "What is it?!" from the surrounding people. Glancing up at Dumbledore hopefully, Noah beamed when he received a nod from the man, and hopped down off of his chair with his bowl of cereal before making his way over to Harry and Ron. He squeezed in between the twins who were sitting opposite the boys in question and shoved his bowl in-between theirs.

"Who gave it to you Harry?" he asked as Harry stared, wide eyed at his new Nimbus 2000.

"P-professor McGonagall." He said quietly. "I feel like I'm about to faint."

"You and me both, mate." Ron murmured next to him. "It's the _fastest broom ever_, Harry. Merlin." Fred and George were looking equally in awe, and so Noah just rolled his eyes and snorted. He reached over and picked it up to inspect, ignoring the gasps and indignant noises from around him.

"It's just a broomstick." He mumbled. "No need to get so uppity." Ron looked like he was about to say something, but Hermione cut in,

"Exactly. They're not that amazing. A safety hazard really." Ron turned to look at her with wide eyes.

"Are you completely _barmy_?" He asked. Barmy. That reminded Noah of his conversation with Dumbledore.

"Ah." He said, drawing their attention before a fight between Ron and Hermione could break out. "Professor Dumbledore _may_ have found out about last night." He said, dropping his voice at the angry look on Ron's face and the terrified one on Hermione's. He couldn't even bring himself to look at Harry.

"You _little-_" Ron started, but Noah interrupted him.

"I swear, all I told him was what Malfoy said to Harry. That he challenged him to a duel." Noah added quickly. "He put everything else together; apparently Filch has spoken to him." He was staring at his soggy coco pops now, not wanting to look up. "He doesn't know anything about the part that happened _after_ we left the Trophy room." He said hopefully. "I didn't even tell him who was there; he just guessed it all!" He cried out, "I don't know how." The last part was said quietly, and Noah felt the blood rush to his face in shame. He shouldn't even had said as much as he had. Perhaps that was all Dumbledore had needed to work it all out, he should have just said that he hadn't spoken to Harry about it. "I'm sorry." He whimpered, feeling the terror rolling off of Hermione in waves. His eyes remained on his cereal until he felt a gentle hand lift his chin up, and his gaze with it.

"You weren't to know." Harry said, green eyes meeting purple. "And he's obviously not going to do anything about it if he's let you come down to sit with us. I don't suppose he was angry...?" He trailed off. Noah shook his head furiously, only stopping when Harry's hand caught his chin again. "Well there we are then." He let go of Noah and sat back. "No punishment, Hermione, no secrets revealed, Ron. It's fine."

"And it's not Noah's fault." The twins added, glaring at Ron. "I don't know what happened last night," George began, "and I'm not expecting you to tell me..."

"...but whatever _did_ happen..."

"...and whatever happened this morning..."

"...can't be Noah's fault..."

"...he cares about this place _way_ too much..."

"...he doesn't even like being part of our pranks..."

"...let alone squealing on his friends..."

"...he's loyal..."

"...so _you_, Ronnikins..."

"...can just shut your mouth and..."

"...stop catching flies." They huffed and crossed their arms over Noah's shoulders, clutching the boy to him.

"Oh George, what ever are we supposed to do?" Fred moaned woefully. "Ickle Ronny wants to hurt our baby!"

"He wants to beat him to a pulp..."

"...feed him to the giant squid..."

"...abandon him in the forest..."

"...drown him in the lake..."

"...give him Hagrid's rock cakes..."

"...paint him in Fang's drool..."

"...smother him in Flint's dirty socks..."

"...cover him in Snape's hair grease..."

"...or force him to stare at Snape's face..."

"...or transfigure his nose to match Snape's..."

"...or tie him up with Snape's swishy cloaks..."

"...or make him _hug_ Snape..."

"...or make him _kiss_ Snape..."

"...oh George! What _are _we meant to do?" Fred finished, wailing. Ron had gone bright red in the face as the rest of Gryffindor looked up in interest at their antics. Harry just sat there snickering.

"You shouldn't insult a teacher like that!" Hermione hissed at the twins. They turned their gazes to her and cocked an eyebrow each. She shrank back from their stares and got up from the table before they could tease her as well. Harry coughed.

"In any case, I've been summoned to my first Quidditch practice with Oliver Wood." He beamed and Noah smiled back.

"That's brilliant, Harry. I'm really happy for you." Harry smiled and blushed, but still managed to mutter his thanks.

Noah really was proud of his friend. Despite his non-existent flying skills, he was happy that Harry was happy and that life seemed to have calmed down a bit for him, excluding the whole three-headed-dog incident, of course.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

The next month or so passed without event. Malfoy was his usual prickish self, making snide comments about Harry, Ron and Hermione, which annoyed Ron more than anything because people were starting to assume that Hermione was part of their group. Surprisingly enough, Noah never received anything more than spiteful glares from the stuck-up blonde; he assumed it was because of his Pureblood status and his closeness to the Headmaster, but he couldn't be sure.

It was on Halloween that the next big thing happened, and it all started when Noah was particularly bored of sitting around alone, and went to find Harry and Ron as they came out of their Charms lesson (he would have found Fred and George, but he knew that they both had Potions with Snape, and he'd _really_ rather not go anywhere near the man when he didn't have to). As the two left the classroom, Noah noticed Hermione hanging around behind the two; close enough to seem part of the group, but not close enough to seem a _wanted_ part of the group. From the look on Ron's face, Noah could tell that he was severely annoyed, and he could see that Harry could tell as well. He inwardly groaned as he put two and two together and waited for the explosion.

Ron had become increasingly annoyed with everyone assuming that bloody Hermione Granger, Gryffindor know-it-all, was part of _their_ group. The group that consisted of Harry, Noah and him, _only_. As in, _no girls allowed_. Even Malfoy, the smarmy prat, had been insulting them all as a whole. And just as Ron was getting to his peak of annoyance, the bushy-haired girl _had_ to piss him off in Charms as well. Well he, for one, had had _enough_.

"It's Levi_**o**_sa, not Levios_**ar**_." He mimicked to Harry, who was looking at him strangely; he looked almost...worried? Ron shrugged internally. "Honestly, she's a nightmare! No wonder she hasn't got any friends!"

"Ron-" Harry started, but ended up wincing as Hermione appeared from behind them, smacking into Ron as she ran past in tears. Harry sighed. "I think she heard you."

"There's no 'think' about it." Noah said as he approached the pair. "She was right behind you the entire time. I think she was starting to hope that you _would_ accept her as part of our group." Noah directed the last part towards Ron. Ron grumbled something about 'no girls allowed' and carried on walking. Noah and Harry sighed in sync, met gazes and singgered a bit. "So Uncle Filius was teaching you Wingardium Leviosa, was he?" He asked conversationally as they made their way to Noah's rooms. "Swish and flick." He smiled.

"I'll show _you_ ruddy 'swish and flick'." Ron grumbled, but Harry ignored him as he smiled back down at Noah.

"Yeah, it's really interesting, and I still can't believe that I'm actually _doing_ this; that it all really _exists_! It's amazing; pointing a stick of wood at something and suddenly the thing starts floating; it's brilliant!" He beamed, excitedly. Noah laughed and squished in-between Harry and Ron, catching both their hands and ignoring the coos that girls _still_ seemed to do whenever he showed the older two any form of physical interaction.

"I'm glad that you're enjoying it. I had the same reaction when my magic unblocked."

"Hm, how's that going for you, by the way?" Ron asked, "The whole, Noah-from-another-time thing?"

"Eloquent." Harry snorted, and yelped when Ron reached round with his spare hand and pinched him. Noah grinned and replied,

"It's going well. Nothing's different to be honest. I don't think anything's _meant_ to be. Dumbledore says that since the last relation of Noah died, allowing his spirit to be reborn into _me_, nothing special is really going to happen now that his last regret has been fulfilled." He shrugged, "Unless something else comes back to haunt me - er, him - then I think I can just live my life as me again."

"That's good." Harry said softly, "It feels good to have the freedom." Noah nodded in understanding while Ron rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and looked around, waiting for the moment, that he couldn't relate to, to pass.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

That evening, at the Halloween Feast, Noah noticed with a wince, that there was a significant lack of Hermione in the Hall. He sighed and started to munch on his dinner when suddenly Professor Quirrell burst into the room.

"Troll! In the dungeon!" He screamed, "Thought you ought to know." As he fell to the floor, the room went silent before exploding into screeches and wails. Noah leapt up, knocking his glasses, staring at the turbaned man who was lying on the ground, out cold. In that moment Noah noticed four things happen simultaneously. One, Dumbledore called for silence. Two, Snape slipped out a side door looking furious. Three, the back of Quirrell's head started to glow and swirl with green magic; the same as in Harry's scar. And four, Noah felt a part of himself be drawn into the spiral; as if it were calling to him. The next instant, he was being shooed out the way as people began to file out. He jumped out of his trance and fixed his glasses, before running ahead to find Ron and Harry at the end of the Gryffindor line.

He caught up with them just to hear Harry exclaim,

"She doesn't know about the troll! We have to find her, Ron." It clicked, and Noah quickly supplied,

"I heard Parvati Patil say that she was crying in a girls' bathroom." Ron groaned.

"Perfect. I don't know where any _girls'_ bathrooms are. Do you?" He asked Harry. Harry bit his lip, worried, and shook his head.

"I do." Noah ventured, grabbing their arms and tugging them down a different corridor to where the crowds were heading. At their inquisitive looks he merely blushed and mumbled, "Fred and George." Realisation lit Ron's eyes.

"The toilet seat!" Noah grimaced and nodded.

"The toilet seat."

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

"Hermione! Duck!" Harry yelled as the troll smashed it's way through the sinks and cubicles. Noah was standing on the sidelines, clutching his right arm, having been rendered useless within the first few seconds as the troll swung it's club and broke his arm, sending his wand careering off to the other side of the room. Ron was just standing next to him, looking green, and Harry had just jumped on top of it, shoving his wand up it's nose.

"Ron! Help!" He yelled as he was thrown around like a Muggle rodeo.

"Swish and flick!" Hermione screeched from her hiding place under the sink. Ron grumbled under his breath about 'freaking swish and flick', before lifting his wand and shouting,

"Wingardium Levi_**o**_sa!" The club of the troll lifted into the air just as it was about to hit the sink where Hermione was cowering. Ron, in his elation, whooped and jumped up and down, losing his concentration and control of the club; leaving it to fall and conk the troll on the head, knocking it out stone cold. Harry leapt off it's back before it squished him and went to high five and cheer with Ron as Noah moved over to grab his wand and help Hermione up on her shakey legs. Harry then bent down and retrieved his wand from the nostril of the troll, wiping it on his robes in an attempt to clean it.

"Ew." He whined, "Troll bogies." There was a triple gasp behind the duo and Noah and Hermione looked up as the other two turned around and cringed as the shocked faces of Professors McGonagall, Quirrell and Snape. Noah cautiously moved over to stand with the other two, worriedly grasping their hands as they tightened their grips over his.

"E-explain yourselves! All of you!" McGonagall cried out.

"Uhh..." Ron started.

"You see..." Harry continued, wincing internally at how pathetic they sounded.

"I-it was my f-fault, Professor." Hermione piped up, stunning all that were present into silence.

"Miss. _Granger_?" McGonagall asked, incredulous.

"I, I went looking for the troll. I'd read up about them and thought I could handle it. Turns out I was wrong. If these three hadn't arrived when they did...well, I'd probably be dead by now." She hung her head. Noah did the same and caught a glance at Snape's leg which displayed a deep gash. He tugged lightly on Harry's hand and discretely jerked his head in Snape's direction. Harry looked and let out a stifled gasp, to which Snape glared at him and tugged his robes over his leg, covering the cut from view. Noah tuned back into the conversation just to hear Minnie give both Ron and Harry 5 points to Gryffindor.

"Minerva, if I may be excused, I feel I have seen enough of Gryffindor idiocy for-"

"Yes, yes, by all means, _leave_ Severus, _please_." McGonagall interrupted and turned on her heel with Quirrell following her loyally. "Go see Madame Pomfrey, then it's straight back to Gryffindor, the lot of you!" She called over her shoulder, seemingly forgetting that Noah didn't have a house yet. As he left, Noah curiously peered over his glasses at Quirrell again and saw the same hypnotising green spiral of magic covering the turban. He felt the shock flit over his face as Quirrell looked back at him and his face turned a normal colour again.

"_Just the back of his head?_" He thought to himself. He needed to talk to Harry.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

"Give me that book, Mr. Potter." Snape said as he swished past Harry reading '_Quidditch Through The Ages'_ out by the Lake.

"Snape." Harry grimaced.

"That is _Professor_ Snape, _sir_, to you, Potter."

"And that is _Mister_ Potter to you, _sir_." Harry bit back. Snape's nostrils flared dangerously and he thrust his hand out.

"Give me that book." He repeated, his voice emphasising the 'k'. Harry squared his jaw and looked up into black eyes bravely.

"And why should I, _sir?_"

"It is against school rules to take a library book outside of the school building." Snape ground out.

"That's a lie!" Hermione squeaked, covering her mouth with wide eyes as she realised that she had just said. Snape glared at her but said nothing, only shoving his hand further into Harry's personal space.

"_Now_, Potter." Harry glared right back at him, but angrily handed over the book all the same. Snape's lip curled nastily. "There, that wasn't so bad, was it, Potter? It seems your breed of dog is slightly more obedient than your father's." Noah winced as Harry leapt up. His Dad was a sore point with him.

"You leave my father out of this, Snape!" Harry yelled, all thoughts of respect for his elders and teachers gone from his mind. "He was a great man! Better than you could ever even _hope_ to be." He hissed. Snape looked furious and seemed about to open his mouth to probably give Harry detentions for the rest of the month, but Noah tugged on Harry's hand and pulled him back down next to him, rubbing his thumb over his hand soothingly. Noah raised his glance up to Snape to meet his eyes defiantly. The grease-ball narrowed his eyes, but spun around on his heel and left, his robe billowing out behind him, limping slightly as he went.

"That is _so_ not a rule." Hermione whined once their teacher was out of sight. "I've read the entire Student Handbook, and I _know_ that that's not true, otherwise I would have never allowed you to take that book outside, Harry."

"I know you wouldn't have, Hermione." Harry replied as he lay down and placed his head in Noah's lap. Instantly, Noah's free hand flew to card its fingers through the dark locks, working out the knots. Harry sighed and closed his eyes, settling down comfortably while Noah smiled. Hermione exchanged a raised eyebrow and a grin of someone who knows that they're in on something, with Ron.

After the troll incident at Halloween, Hermione had, indeed, officially joined "the gang", and, despite all odds and their constant bickering, it actually seemed as if Ron was the one that got on best with her. Harry and Noah were more the spectators who calmed things down in the heated moments between the redhead and brunette; all the passion was between them.

"I'm gonna have to find him to get it back, aren't I?" Harry groaned, flopping over in Noah's lap and pressing his head further into his comfy pillow.

"Well, it _is_ rented from the library, I can't let it become overdue." Hermione explained, much to the chagrin of Harry.

"I don't want to go anywhere near him though." He whined, nuzzling Noah's bent knee, eliciting a giggle from the boy as it tickled.

"How about if I came with you?" Noah suggested helpfully.

"Hmm." Harry hummed. "Maybe." He grinned. "Don't know if I'd want to go anywhere near you either. _Ew._"

"Shove off!" Noah laughed, nudging Harry with his knee and using a phrase he had heard plenty of times from the twins. Another look was exchanged above their heads, this time accompanied by a smirk.

"You two seem awfully..._close_." Hermione said, using her newness to the group to her advantage.

"'Course we are." Harry replied, "we're like brother's. And he saved me from the  
>Dursley's. I'm obviously going to be close to him." Noah smiled softly and ran his fingers through Harry's hair again.<p>

"You don't ever have to go back there, ever again, Harry. You're staying with me from now on." Eyebrows were, by this point, rising into hairlines, but Ron and Hermione both maintained their silence on the matter and merely returned to their homework. "What time should we go find him then?" Noah asked.

"After dinner, definitely. I'd rather eat before seeing him, than after and end up not having an appetite from looking at his ugly mug." All four of them sniggered at that and Harry remained in Noah's lap until they went in for dinner, with Noah humming lightly under his breath as Harry dozed quietly, the low December sun warming his face.

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

"Hurry _up_ you buffoon, my absence shall be noticed before long." Noah and Harry paused outside Snape's office as they heard him cursing at none other than Argus Filch. "It's a hazard, that imbecilic _oaf_'s three headed dog, why would Dumbledore even _think_ it would be a good idea to place one of them in a school?" Exchanging glances, the pair snuck forwards and peeked around the door to see Filch treating the cut on Snape's leg. Up close it was obvious that it was a bite mark. Their eyes went wide, and they hurriedly knocked on the door before they were caught eavesdropping. Snape dropped his trouser leg at once, and wrenched open the door with a sneer.

"Potter. Isaksen. What a..._pleasure_." He drawled.

"We've come to get my book back, Snape."

"Too afraid to do it by yourself, Potter?" Snape smirked.

"Too afraid that I might throw up after seeing your face, yes." Harry replied, setting his jaw and raising his chin in an act of defiance that was becoming so _Harry_.

"Hold your tongue, _Potter_." Snape spat, angrily.

"I will if you do,_ sir_." Harry replied. It was a dangerous game he was playing; openly insulting a teacher that so disliked him.

"You are just like your father. He, too, thought that the world revolved around him. Arrogant, obnoxious, a bully to all but his petty crew of followers-"

"I thought I told you to leave him well alone, Snape!" Harry shouted, going red in the face. Noah placed a hand on Harry's arm and glared daggers at Snape. Harry huffed, but calmed down. "Just, give me the book Professor, and I'll be out of your greasy hair." The man in question narrowed his eyes so much they turned to slits, but he grabbed the book, rammed it into Harry's chest, and slammed the door shut without another word.

"Well that settles it, doesn't it?" Harry asked as he and Noah made their way up to Gryffindor.

"Settles what?"

"Snape's trying to get at whatever the dog's hiding. It's obvious, and now he has the bite to prove it." Harry explained. "I've been thinking about what it could be, and suddenly it all just clicked; Hagrid removed a package from a vault when he took me to London on my birthday. You remember? When he said he had to go back to Hogwarts on important business?" Noah nodded. "Well _that's_ what the dog's guarding, _that's_ what Snape wants. It's a well known fact that he's obsessed with the Dark Arts, of _course_ he's going to want some top-secret object from the depths of Gringotts."

'Dark Arts'. That rung alarm bells in Noah's head. He stopped in his tracks as his brain cogs whirred.

"Harry, I'm not sure if you're entirely right." He said, holding out a hand to stop Harry as well. Harry frowned.

"How d'you mean?" Noah licked his lips nervously.

"Well there's no denying that Snape is somehow involved, but I don't think he's alone." Noah looked at Harry who was still frowning. "Listen, you remember when I washed your hair back home in the Summer?" He asked and continued at Harry's affirmative nod. "Well I had to take my glasses off as they fogged up and, well, your scar, Harry...it glowed. Green. With spirals. That scar was caused by Voldemort, so there's only one explanation for the way the magic looked; it's Dark. In your case a remnant." For his credit, Harry was taking it all very well, barely even widening his eyes in shock. "Well, I've seen something...similar, but so much more potent and it's..._Merlin_, Harry it's on the back of Quirrell's head."

_~"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water"~_

**A/N: ****Yes it has been a year and a month since my last update, no I have no good excuse other than I completely lost my inspiration for this story and got incredibly caught up in my non-fanfiction life. As it stands I have picked it back up at possibly the worst time I could - 4 weeks before the exams that determine whether I get into University or not. This was a chapter I actually had written back in last April and I have a few more in my store cupboard, but I'd like to try and only upload a new chapter every time I write one so I don't run out. I still make no promises that this story will ever have regular updates, but come July I'll hopefully have a lot more written, or at least a lot more time to write. Anyway, I'm sorry for the wait and I'm sorry that there may be a long wait yet. For those of you who have hung around, then thank you for waiting and I'm sorry yet again!**


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